History WMG / UminekoNoNakuKoroNi

[[color:red:This gameboard shall henceforth be split in seven. Two sevenths shall be for the discussion of episodes of ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' that have been translated into the English language. One seventh shall be for theories that have been proven false, another for those that are true, and still another for those that even Battler could not take seriously. One seventh shall be for episodes not yet translated, and the last seventh shall be for theories regarding Colored Text.]]

[[color:red:By this measure, players, demons and unwilling sacrifices shall together be able to continue their]] [[color:blue:futile]] [[color:red:struggle against my hellish riddle without accidentally tripping over, gouging or disemboweling one another.]]

[[center:[[color:red:With love,]]]][[center:[[color:red:Beatrice the Golden,]]]][[center:[[color:red:Ushiromiya House Alchemy Counselor]]]][[center:[[color:red:and]]]][[center:[[color:red:Golden Witch of a Thousand Years]]]]

[[color:red:This gameboard shall henceforth be split in seven. Two sevenths shall be for the discussion of episodes of ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' that have been translated into the English language. One seventh shall be for theories that have been proven false, another for those that are true, and still another for those that even Battler could not take seriously. One seventh shall be for episodes not yet translated, and the last seventh shall be for theories regarding Colored Text.]]

[[color:red:By this measure, players, demons and unwilling sacrifices shall together be able to continue their]] [[color:blue:futile]] [[color:red:struggle against my hellish riddle without accidentally tripping over, gouging or disemboweling one another.]]

[[center:[[color:red:With love,]]]][[center:[[color:red:Beatrice the Golden,]]]][[center:[[color:red:Ushiromiya House Alchemy Counselor]]]][[center:[[color:red:and]]]][[center:[[color:red:Golden Witch of a Thousand Years]]]]

[[color:red:By this measure, players, demons and unwilling sacrifices shall together be able to continue their]] [[color:blue:futile]] [[color:red:struggle against my hellish riddle without accidentally tripping over, gouging or disembowelling one another.]]

to:

[[color:red:By this measure, players, demons and unwilling sacrifices shall together be able to continue their]] [[color:blue:futile]] [[color:red:struggle against my hellish riddle without accidentally tripping over, gouging or disembowelling disemboweling one another.]]

[[color:red:This gameboard shall henceforth be split in three. One third shall be for the discussion of episodes of ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' that have been translated into the English language. The second third shall be for episodes not yet translated. The last third shall be for theories regarding Colored Text.]]

to:

[[color:red:This gameboard shall henceforth be split in three. One third seven. Two sevenths shall be for the discussion of episodes of ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' that have been translated into the English language. The second third One seventh shall be for theories that have been proven false, another for those that are true, and still another for those that even Battler could not take seriously. One seventh shall be for episodes not yet translated. The translated, and the last third seventh shall be for theories regarding Colored Text.]]

[[AC:For episodes that have not yet been translated (Right now: episode 7 of the {{Visual Novel}}s), see [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated]].]]

[[AC:For theories relating to how the Colored Text works see, [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiColoredText WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiColoredText]].]]

[[WMG: Full Theory to ''Legend of the Golden Witch'']]Hi guys. To the people who visit this page, please attack my theory and tell me if this is a viable solution to Episode 1. Here goes. '''MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.'''

A word of note: Please be reminded of [[color:red:Knox's 9th: It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions be heard.]]

'''THE CULPRIT''':First, [[color:blue:I propose that the term “furniture” refers to the status of a person as the servant of “Kinzo Ushiromiya”. As such, when Kinzo Ushiromiya died, all persons with the title of “furniture” lost their status as such, and without an heir to the name of “Kinzo Ushiromiya”, all those with the prior title of “furniture” also lose their status as “servants”.]]

[[color:red:Presentation of hints!]] [[color:blue:It has been implied that the furniture status may be discarded! No hints to the conditions, however, I also propose that in order for the illusion of Kinzo being alive to remain, the "furniture" were still asked to refer to themselves as such in order to hide the fact of Kinzo's death! But technically, they don't have a master anymore, so they don't count as servants!]]

Going by this assumption, [[color:blue:I propose that Kanon is the culprit!]] This way, [[color:blue:Van Dine's 11th is fulfilled]], [[color:red:which states that 'it is forbidden for servants to be the culprit'.]]

[[color:blue:I also propose that at the very least, the following people are involved: Kumasawa, Genji, and Nanjo. Reasons for this will be explained later.]]

'''FIRST TWILIGHT''':Simple enough. [[color:blue:The culprit killed the victims in their rooms, then stashed their bodies in the shed, possibly with help. At the time the bodies were in the shed, some of the corpses were disfigured in order to give the possibility that the disfigured corpses are actually faked, thus shifting the blame to the disfigured corpses.]]

[[color:blue:I propose that the corpse identified as “Shannon” existed with that name at one point in time, and was killed (or had died) prior to this point of time. Assuming that “Shannon” was already dead before October 4, 1986, then the “Shannon” that the cousins have interacted with is actually Kanon, or vice versa.]]

'''SECOND TWILIGHT''':The culprit killed Eva and Hideyoshi in this manner: [[color:blue:he knocked on the door, prompting Eva to open it. Once the culprit was inside, he killed Eva, then Hideyoshi, and then waited inside the closet until someone would arrive and cut open the chain. If it was one of the co-conspirators, he would merely pretend that he was one of the first to discover the corpses. If it was not, he would have remained inside the closet until the rest of the people discovered Hideyoshi’s body in the bath tub, a blind spot which would allow the culprit to sneak in and mingle with the rest of the family.]]

'''FOURTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:Kinzo's corpse was disposed of by any of the people who know about his death in order to hide the fact that he died before October 4, 1986.]]

'''FIFTH TWILIGHT''':This is the most crucial part of the argument. [[color:blue:Kanon did not die. An object, perhaps a notebook, was lodged in his clothing, which prevented a stab wound from the stake from penetrating into his body. Any blood found on the scene was probably faked using paint, ketchup, or any similar material. After that, his “corpse” was carried to Doctor Nanjo. The onlookers were probably chased out of the room while Kanon was being “treated”, and when Doctor Nanjo got out of the room, the illusion of Kanon’s “death” is completed.]]

[[color:red:Presentation of hints! Kanon's death was not an accident, and Kanon did not commit suicide!]] [[color:blue:The red truths have not been violated, and Beatrice's refusal to say that it was a homicide is the vital clue to this argument!]]

'''SIXTH, SEVENTH, EIGHTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:By supposing Kanon’s death as faked, the triple murder of Nanjo, Kumasawa, and Genji is now solvable. Kanon, disguised as Beatrice, ordered Maria to turn around and drown out all noises while Kanon killed the three people. Afterwards, he called Kinzo’s study to draw out Natsuhi and the other cousins.]]

'''NINTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:The murder of Natsuhi is also solvable by supposing Kanon’s fake death. Kanon lured Natsuhi out using the letter of unknown contents, and then killed her.]]

'''MOTIVE''':[[color:blue:Kanon’s motive is love.]] Recall that [[color:red:Jessica and George survived until the tenth twilight.]] [[color:blue:I propose that Shannon/Kanon committed the murders in order to get rid of the remaining obstacles to their relationship with George/Jessica. By the tenth twilight, Shannon/Kanon would have picked which identity to adopt, thus fulfilling the relationship of one while destroying the other. However, the remaining survivors died before that could happen, finally killing everyone on the island.]]

Well, what do you think, everyone...?

* Pretty good overall, and generally I agree, but if I may raise a few points and questions. 1) The definition of "servant" here bugs me; it seems like an escapist twist. They call themselves servants, they act as servants, and they unconditionally obey Krauss and Natsuhi's orders, acknowledging Krauss as the heir. 2) Shannon's corpse was never seen by Battler, so it need not be there at all. Hideyoshi may have been cooerced into cooperating, then killed. 3) Jessica was with Kanon's body for a good period, almost until the point he "died." Unless she's stupid, she should have noticed something. 4) Maria and Battler lived to the end too. Are they for Beatrice?** 1) [[color:red:Addendum to the hints presented:]] [[color:blue:Only Gohda and Kumasawa are servants who have not called themselves "furniture", and they have not been directly employed by Kinzo.]] It's possible that the parents have some degree of control over them, but it seems that their general loyalty is towards Kinzo. Also, no heir has been announced yet, since Kinzo is still "alive". There's still leeway for the theory to be true. 2) It's also possible that the corpses were misidentified, which still counts as "[[color:red:their identities being guaranteed,]] because the method of identification may not have been conclusive. 3) Hm. I have to re-check that. But if Battler didn't witness it (since he's the detective), then "Jessica being with Kanon" may not have happened. Or that Kanon's just that really good at playing dead. 4) They weren't really interfering, so there was no need to kill them. If they did, then they would've died anyway.*** 1) Kumasawa was definitely directly hired like Genji was, serving Kinzo since Krauss and the siblings were still young children. It is strongly implied that Shannon and Kanon weren't initially hired by Kinzo, but rose through the ranks. 2) If the corpse identities were misidentified, then the Red is made invalid. Everyone has to be who they're said to be in that particular scene, but there's still leeway for Shannon's corpse to not exist. 4) I would wager that Battler and Maria's lives are much more important to the Shkanontrice murderer than Jessica and George, considering that Jessica and George tend to die fairly early and that Battler and Maria usually live until the very end. When Maria doesn't live that long, it's implied to be a different murderer.*** [[color:red:Addendum:]] It seems that only the one-winged eagle servants call themselves furniture, so Kumasawa still probably doesn't count as furniture. [[color:blue:Just because you're directly hired doesn't mean that you'll count as furniture, so it's possible that being one of the One-Winged Eagle has something to do with the "furniture" status.]] 4) Well, that doesn't change the fact that Battler, Maria, George and Jessica didn't die until the very end in Episode 1. So I wager that it doesn't matter whether they're left alive or dead until the end. Also, [[color:blue:I wager that Battler has detective immunity, so he can't die until the end. He has to observe all of the crimes before dying so that the reader may have equal opportunity in solving the crimes.]] [[color:red:He has been confirmed as the detective in Episode 5 by Dlanor.]]* I believe you're at least heading in the right direction, but I think part of your argument is not needed. You ended up tagging on a bunch of stuff to take care of Van Dine's 11th, but I'm not sure it even applies. As supporting evidence, I would like to highlight Dlanor's explanation of Knox's rules in the Episode 5 ????? section, where she explains that [[color:red:"Knox's 3rd. It is forbidden for secret passages to exist."]] doesn't deny the possibility of secret passages, but instead denies the possibility of "secret passages that cannot be found by the detective", as well as the original Van Dine's rule #11, which appears to have more to do with characters that are BeneathSuspicion. It should be forbidden for servants who only act as servants with no evidence against them presented (in line with Knox's 8th) to be the culprit. Apart from Gohda, I don't believe this applies to any of the servants on Rokkenjima.* A lot of these things do make sense, but also remember that if Shannon is Beatrice, then despite being a servant she's the legitimate Ushiromiya successor and [[spoiler:a family member]], meaning that she's exempt from the "servants can't be the culprit" rule.

[[WMG: The solution to the first sound novel is that there is not just one culprit, but a conspiracy]]This troper hasn't seen this anywhere else on this page, so I'll post here. This a Pro-Mystery solution to ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' that assumes that magic does not exist. There are spoilers from the first sound novel as well as spoilers from later sound novels, read at your own risk. This troper has edited the WMG for spelling, grammar, and coherence.

''Part 1: The ones who plan the Twilights.'' In this solution an assumption is made that there is a conspiracy involving Eva, Rudolph, Hideyoshi, Kyrie, Genji, & Dr. Nanjo. The possible motives for these six are as follows: 1)Eva wants George (or herself) to be family head. 2)Rudolph desperately needs a large amount of money to get himself out of trouble. 3)Hideyoshi supports his wife. 4)Kyrie supports her husband. 5)Genji and Nanjo are shown to be Kinzo's best friend and may believe that Kinzo would've wanted Eva to be head or that Krauss is not honoring their best friend's memory. It is established early on that Eva and Rudolph are by far the closest of the four siblings and in my opinion are two most likely to conspire together while leaving Rosa out of their scheme. It's not hard to see one of the two (probably Dr. Nanjo) revealing to either Eva or Hideyoshi about being forced to cover up Kinzo's death.

''Part 2: The Witch's Letter.'' Included in this theory is that Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are multiple personalities in one body. Genji and Kumasawa are aware of this and actively cover it up. Possibly because they are protective of Shannon, who's been working as a maid since she was 6 and is bullied by Natsuhi. Notice that only scenes involving either Genji and/or Kumasawa do we also see Shannon and Kanon at the same time. The personality Beatrice is the one responsible for all of the murders and is the one who gives Maria the Witch's Letter. Beatrice also writes and seals all Witch's Letters for this game. I could go into further detail about the how and why of Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice but that would be for another WMG. After Maria reads the letter at dinner but before the meeting later that night between the parents is when the plan is hatched. If the murder of Krauss is believed by all to be the fault of the Witch Beatrice, then Eva can be head of the family without suspicion. This is why everyone needs to believe that witch is real.

''Part 3: The First Twilight.'' The first twilight victims were Krauss, Rosa, Gohda, and a body faked to be Shannon's. Both Rudolph's and Kyrie's deaths are faked. Krauss is the primary target. Rosa is killed because she's seen as threat to the plan. Gohda is killed because he is seen as Krauss' agent. A reason why Natsuhi is not in the first twilight is because of the unstable Beatrice. Shannon was patrolling the halls of the mansion when she saw golden butterflies which probably signified that Beatrice was surfacing. But why? Because she sees Kruass, Rosa, and Gohda being murdered! This Beatrice joins the group of conspirators and wants Kanon and Shannon dead so she can be 'real'. The fake Shannon body is prepared to appease Beatrice. Note that the fake Shannon body was probably not all that convincing, which is why Hideyoshi did not want anyone else to see it when the first twilight is discovered the next day, though Kanon does see it and is convinced she's dead. This symbolic killing of the Shannon personality also gives a reason why Shannon never resurfaces.

''Part 4: The Rest of the Twilights.'' All dead bodies with stakes in them are staged except for one. Dr. Nanjo is around to say that the staged deaths are genuine. Kinzo's body was cremated by one of the conspirators who have faked thier death. The only 'stake murder' that was not staged was Kanon's. As Kanon is pursuing whoever burned Kinzo's body, the Beatrice alter surfaces and tries to kill Kanon. Dr. Nanjo tries so desperately to save Kanon because this wasn't a part of the plan. It is also possible that Dr. Nanjo succeeds and fakes Kanon's death. After that is when everyone holes up in Kinzo's study. Either Dr. Nanjo, Genji, or Maria provide the Witch's Letter III which causes Natsuhi to kick them out of the study. Note that only Kumasawa actually protests leaving while Genji and Dr. Nanjo know this part of the plan and Maria is, well, deluded.

The final set of murders, with Maria singing facing the wall are also staged. It's not hard to imagine either Eva, Kyrie, or the Beatrice alter (if Kanon's body survived) dressing up as Beatrice to convince Maria to play along. Kumasawa is forced to become part of the conspiracy or die. Nobody actually inspects the three dead bodies all that closely. The final letter was a challenge to draw Natsuhi away from the children. Natsuhi either kills herself or is murdered. At the end Battler and the other see the costumed Beatrice, who Maria hugs. And that's where the Sound Novel ends. * Good work, except for two minor points. 1) The Beatrice personality would have come first, and 2) [[color:red: Dine's 13th: No secret societies or conspiracies. The murderer, too, needs a sporting chance to outwit the detective.]]* Original poster here. • Original poster here. Originally I conceded that Beatrice personality came first, I no longer believe that to be the case. I will argue Dine's 13th. The only way Dine's rule 13 as well as [[color:red:Dine's 12th: There can only be one murderer. The villain could have a helper or "co-plotter," but only one is going to get the ax in the matter.]] could apply is if there's only one 'killer'. Because of the possiblity of Kanon's stabbing being fatal I put forth that the Beatrice alter killed Krauss, Rosa, and Gohda without joining the conspiracy. The alter is triggered by stress, which I believe is true of real DID. The stress and conflicted emotions triggered the Beatrice alter to surface on the first night. The Beatrice alter shows up at the parents' meeting, offers to kill them/is told that if it kills them it'll be real and demands that the conspiracy kills Shannon as well. This is preferable for the conspiracy because then their hands are technically clean. They appease the alter with the fake Shannon body. The conspirators transported the dead bodies and the fake ones into the tool shed. The Beatrice alter is the only 'killer' since after the first twilight only Kanon's murder is actually real. The alter manifests because of the stress Kanon feels that causes him to make his epic speech. In summation, the alter only plays along because it only cares about being 'real' and killing Shannon and Kanon. It enjoys people saying that Beatrice 'exists'. At the end Natsuhi kills herself or is killed by the Beatrice alter who has dressed itself up to resemble the Beatrice portrait. *** Respondent here. First off, can I request we drop the Alter word? It's technically outdated since modern models of DID don't hold that there's a "host" personality anymore, and it's actually sort of offensive to actual Multiples. Moving on, Beatrice's motives don't work here, because [[color:red: Beatrice did not kill because of money or revenge]], and these are pretty Vengeance-y motives. But then, I would argue that Beatrice is herself actually 100% innocent of all crimes, and is just martyring herself.*** Original poster here. Sorry about using that word, I didn't realize that it was offensive. I'm glad that you don't seem to disagree about there being a conspiracy as long as the killer is separate from that conspiracy. The 'being a martyr' motive I believe applies more to Meta-Beatrice than this Beatrice. I don't want to offend, but would you please elaborate why you think that motive fits more? I'm also curious where that red text came from. I'll admit that Beatrice's motive is the biggest guess in this theory. The motive I described is not exactly 'revenge' as it is wanting be in sole control of the body. To take revenge Beatrice needs to feel wronged or want to punish Shannon or Kanon. If she wants to kill them anyway it's not exactly revenge. Assuming that the Beatrice in that red text refers to the symbolic "true culprit" there isn't really anyone else in the first sound novel who wouldn't want to kill for money and/or revenge. A possible reason for wanting to be in sole control is that Beatrice wants to be with Battler the same way Shannon and Kanon want to be with George and Jessica respectively. That is, her primary motivation for killing is love. Another thing that I believe supports this motive is that Shannon and Kanon are both acknowledged by everyone while Beatrice is hardly acknowledged at all. Besides Shannon and Kanon only Genji, Kumasawa, who in this theory are the only ones who know of DID, and Maria actually believe Beatrice exists. Anyone would be angry if the person they have a crush on doesn't even believe they exist. * From Episode 4, regarding Eva and Hideyoshi in Episode 1: [[color:red: "Both were killed by another person! It is not the case that, after the construction of the closed room, one of them committed suicide after committing murder! Furthermore, the murder was carried out with both the victim and the perpetrator in the same room! No method exists for the perpetrator to commit murder from outside the room!"]] Eva and Hideyoshi were confirmed in red to have been killed, so their deaths were not faked. From Episode 4, referring to the parlour murders in Episode 1: [[color:red: "Maria, who was in the same room, did not kill them! And of course, the three were killed by other people!"]] Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa are confirmed in red to have been killed, so their deaths were not faked.** Original poster here: If Eva, Hideyoshi, Nanjo, Genji, and Kumasawa did not fake their deaths then they were killed by 'Beatrice'. Genji could have advised Beatrice as Ronove as to which people were killed, how they were killed, and during which twilight. The deaths were originally supposed to be faked but then Beatrice decided to kill them for reals.

[[WMG: Gaap is Jessica]]This is mostly running off the assumption Shkanon is Beatrice, but even otherwise I feel like it's justifiable.

Anyway, I say she's Jessica mostly because of Gaap's profile saying that She and Beatrice are best friends, which is the same relationship between Jessica and Shannon. More evidence is Jessica actually LIVING there, thereby knowing the mansion by heart, which is a given for Gaap, the transporter. If we run on this assumption, Jessica killing George in the 4th episode becomes perfectly clear- she had to be one of the culprits, which is why her phone call to battler seemed so sketchy. Why she died? I still dunno. But anyway, that's a different subject. Of course, if Beatrice is actually Jessica instead, I would want to say that Shannon is Gaap, but it doesn't seem logical, and somehow I feel like the love demons represent Shannon and Kanon anyway.* I doubt it, since Jessica being Gaap means [[spoiler: that Jessica has to be in the know about Shkannon and Beatrice's identity and know that she's solved the Epitaph and is the true head.]] None of that fits Jessica's profile.** Why would that be implausible? All Jessica/Kanon interactions are away from Battler's eyes. It's not concrete that Jessica doesn't know what goes on.*** That's...quite incorrect. Before the murders begin, Battler often has plenty of opportunity to see how Jessica and Kanon feel about each other. That aside, it's against the rules of the gameboard for pieces like Jessica and Kanon to act in ways they wouldn't or couldn't. If they don't have feelings for each other, they cannot behave as if they do even in fantasy scenes. To say nothing of Ryukishi has said otherwise on his blog, calling the falsification of the romances a "cruel trap" he wouldn't indulge in. Unless you can account for Jessica loving Kanon while being 100% aware of his true nature, this theory doesn't work. Besides, we have no real evidence to think Gaap has a human vessel like other meta-characters do. [=EP7=] implied that she represents not a person, but a phenomenon that was made into an imaginary friend. **** [[color:blue:Gaap is the]] {{Anthropomorphic Personification}} [[color:blue:of people losing small objects such as car keys, portable video game cartridges and the remote.]] That is a better theory by the logic that she represents a phenomenon rather than a human.

[[WMG:Bernkastel's equivalent of Beatrice's Stakes of Purgatory are the Higurashi {{Nakama}}]]Because something tells me we haven't seen the last of them. Also, with Hanyuu, who is implied to be a creator, they could bring them from any given world. Their uniform would be Angel Mort's waitress outfit....yes, even Keiichi. * That would indeed make for a great final battle. There's actually some fanart of Keiichi being summoned.* (Link please?) This theory is helped by the fact that if you exclude Rika, there are seven children in Higurashi: Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko, Hanyuu, and Satoshi. Alternatively, you could have Akasaka instead of Satoshi.* If you need to exclude someone, exclude Hanyuu instead of Satoshi, she's not even really here until the last chapter... But I don't see why Hanyuu would be a creator witch. IF she is a witch, we know that she is a voyager, like 34 or Bern. And in Lambda's diary, it is said that witches are a link between gods (hellooo hanyuu?) and humans, so I don't see the point about making Hanyuu a witch...

[[WMG:Every murder involving the Stakes of Purgatory can be explained by the stake(s) involved in the death.]]This one isn't actually isn't such a stretch considering what's been stated in the third arc, but if it's not right, it's bound to be {{Jossed}} pretty quickly. Anyway, if none of the murders are supernatural in origin, which we have to assume they aren't, since Battler also has to, then wouldn't the most straightforward way be to figure out which characters we know were involved and, where a stake was involved, what [[SevenDeadlySins sin]] that stake represents. In that way, a story may start to form. For instance, Kyrie defeated the sin of jealousy by out-jealousing it in the third arc. We know Rudolf has a tendency to cheat on his wives, so maybe she found out about an affair he was having and was tempted to kill him and almost did, but managed to keep herself out of it through devotion to him (which would be motivated by jealousy toward Asumu). Of course, this raises the question of what the bunny-girls would mean.* Guns. [[WMG: The game Beatrice plays with Battler is the same game that is played in {{HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi}} ]][[color:blue: Rika is Bernkastel's piece and Miyo is Lambdadelta's. The reason why Miyo was obssessed with [[spoiler:comfirming Hinamizawa Syndrome and the parasites and disproving gods]] was because in this game Lambda and Miyo were playing the role that Battler is playing now.]] [[WMG:Beatrice is love]][[AnthropomorphicPersonification In the most literal sense.]] Love is the cause of Kinzo's madness. Love is why Maria trusts Rosa unconditionally. Love is the impetus for the grisly murders. Love is the magic that can change the world. Love kills. Love can lift them up and transform them, but not until it's put them through hell.

And the name 'Beatrice', of course, is from the Divine Comedy: the universal symbol of unattainable love.* In the same way we could interpret all Beatrice's deaths as death of love in various persons. (First Kinzo, than Rosa and Battler. Well at least these two clearly went evil-mode after her death, and they both were looking for love in a way. We don't know about Battler yet though. I think it may be over-interpreting things little though. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?]] At least we know for sure that series main focus is love, so it's possible for it to have a symbolism like that. (Love is in the air~)** Didn't Beatrice die in [[spoiler:Rosa]]'s backstory too? Should she be included? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?*** She should be included, i just forgot about her.^^"

[[WMG:The chessboard symbolism is '''dead literal''']]There are 'not more than seventeen' people on the island. Sixteen is not more than seventeen. Sixteen pieces in a chess army. Eight of them nobles who influence, in some capacity, what horrible things are about to befall. Eight of them pawns, doomed to die in confusion and terror.

Which character fills which role is left as an exercise.* Eva's definitely one of the nobles. And if Beatrice is to be trusted, so is Battler.* Battler's the King. George and Shannon are the two Rooks, Jessica and Kanon are the two bishops. The parents are all pawns. The incident in Episode 3 can be explained as Eva getting promoted to Queen. To confuse things further, Maria and Genji are both on the opposite team; The "Sixteenth piece" for Battler's side is Ange, the Queen.* Weren't the only pieces to be revealed so far the White King (Battler, stated by Beatrice at the end of Ep. 4) and Black King (Maria, from the crown on her head)?** You forgot about Beato being a Black Queen.** Which piece each character corresponds to can vary between each game, for example Natsuhi was the Black King in episode 5 and that episode didn't have a White King. Also, Maria's crown is probably a red herring.* Gaap is a Knight, and Cornelia and Gertrude are both Rooks.

[[WMG:Battler's overlooking something completely obvious in the examination of the cases]]The witches have not defined in red what constitutes as a "person". This creates a loophole in which "furniture" can be left out of the statement [[color:red:"There are no more than 17 people on Rokkenjima."]] and thus making a huge gap in which 18th Person X can appear.* Hell, even if they define "person" in red, it wouldn't matter if red text only has to be true for one interpretation. And it matters even less if you can change interpretations on a statement-by-statement basis.* [[color:red:The statement, "6 people: Kinzo, Genji, Shannon, Kanon, Gohda, and Kumasawa are dead!", proves that furniture count as people. Furthermore, even if the definition of person can be changed, in order for Battler to argue that they aren't counted among the 17 he'd have to acknowledge that furniture are fundamentally different from people. Thus, severly weakening his argument.]]* [[color:blue:COUNTERPOINT! Shannon and Kannon are only able to become human through Love. Only in games where Kannon acknowledges feelings towards Jessica does he qualify as a Person. Ronoue does not feel love. Ronoue does not count as a Person.]][[color:red: Furniture ARE inherently different from people as stated in Episodes 1 through 4.]]** [[color:red:Ronoue counted as a person in episode 3.]][[color:purple: In order to count as people, furniture must ]][[color:grey:feel love.]][[color:purple: Therefore, in episode 3, Ronoue]][[color:grey: felt love.]][[color:red: Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: if you would claim that love makes furniture people you must present evidence that Ronoue loved someone.]]*** A [=WMG=] below suggests Kinzo. See "Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice".**** Effective. Furthermore, I will strengthen this theory further. [[color:red: Shannon and Kanon are not the only servents from the Fukuin house.]] Furthermore, [[color:blue:there is no evidence to suggest that the others aren't furniture as well. Therefore, even in an episode where Kanon, Shannon, and Genji all count as people, it is possible for the number of people to be misleading because the servents who we are told aren't on the island don't count as people and thus could be on the island without effecting the number.]]***** Furniture are human. It's just a metaphor taken to a literal extent in the Magical Perspective.****** Literal as in they get a super-awesome energy sword attached to their writing arms, or are able to form barriers to defend against magical attacks? In that case, take away the servitude thing and Kanon and Shannon are better off as furniture. Maybe they can become Jessica's and George's furniture, respectively.

[[WMG:The deaths are caused by 'Rokkenjima syndrome']]A mysterious disease that causes people to hallucinate they are being attacked by witches. And then explode.* Maybe seeing the golden butterflies is akin to hearing footsteps in Higurashi.* There are no more than 17 people on the island, but there are 40 scientists the next island over with typhoon-penetrating surface-to-surface missiles loaded with BERSERKER GAS!** Wait, wasn't there a disease thingy in Cowboy Bebop which causes people to see golden butterflies, hallucinate, and then die?** [[http://jbcs.info/Umineko/ep5.html#3EyRXGLI1x6S8OX17_wRYA Huh, What?]]

[[WMG:The murderer of the children in the first arc is [[TheKillerInMe Battler]].]]At the end, he is the only one with a weapon, aimed at the only confirmed victim of the four (Remember Maria's jawbone?), and is never confirmed to be dead. In addition, his repetition of the idea that he's going to live over and over again near the end echoes [[spoiler:Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen]] (Not that I can blame him for that sentiment, but...). He was driven nuts by the past murders and hallucinated Beatrice's appearance, at which point he shot Maria and perhaps Jessica and George (They might have helped him in the murder, if you want to alter it a little bit). After that, he pulled a [[spoiler:[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Natsumi]]]], chopped up all of the previous corpses, and scattered them all over the mansion. He then camped out in Kinzo's study, which was previously established as the only safe place in his mind, and everything that takes place in "Purgatorio" is actually just him hallucinating and inflicting mental punishment upon himself.* {{Jossed}} in Episode 5. [[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit. Battler-kun didn't kill anyone. This can be said of all games.]] This Red Truth was stated by Virgilia.** Now...when you say "Battler" are you referring to Meta-Battler, the guy with the red hair everyone is calling Battler, or some other Battler?*** Since I don't think meta-Battler has ever affected anything on the game board, I would assume they're referring to the red-haired guy on the board.*** Battler himself suggests that...but Dlanor A. Knox counters with one of her rules, [[color:red:"The detective cannot be the culprit!"]] Since Battler could be considered the detective for every arc up until 5 when Erika takes his place, he can't be the culprit for any of the "question" arcs.*** There is another person trying to unravel the story, [[color:red:and that person is not on the island and therefore not the culprit.]] [[color:blue:I propose that the audience is the true detective.]]**** But then there [[NoFourthWall wouldn't be a Fourth Wall!]]***** So? At least one character is aware of us.****** (5th poster here.) [[hottip:* :I mentioned [[NoFourthWall the lack of a Fourth Wall]].]] You don't understand. [[{{Yu-Gi-OhTheAbridgedSeries}} If there's]] NoFourthWall, [[{{Yu-Gi-OhTheAbridgedSeries}} things will become really bad around here.]]***** It's possible if the 'games' between Battler and Beatrice start during Episode 2. I think Battler himself mentions that things didn't really start between himself and Beatrice until Episode 2, therefore, it's possible that Episode 1 wasn't really a game, and Virgilia's Red Truth and Knox's 7th wouldn't apply.

[[WMG:Ange's bodyguard is actually Battler's EvilTwin]]Juuza looks suspicious just on appearance. He's a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy who has one of his eyes covered, has a name made of numbers [[spoiler:which worked oh so well for the BigBad in Higurashi]], and wears CreepyCoolCrosses, so first of all, he's setting off all of my scanners for "secretly evil." Okay, now to the theory: both Asumu and Kyrie were supposed to have had children around the same time, but Kyrie's was supposedly a stillbirth. Since the fourth arc, a lot of people have been working under the assumption that Battler was actually Kyrie's child, and perhaps Asumu was the one with the stillbirth. But what if Kyrie actually had a second child too, and for some reason gave him up as well? He shares a resemblance to her, what with the white hair. In addition, he looks to be about the same age Battler would be had he lived until 1998. Or perhaps he was actually Asumu's child (we've never seen what she looks like) and was raised in secret because of some sort of disability we don't know about yet? And she got Battler, who was still Kyrie's son, in his place. That might explain the "two Battlers" conundrum.

[[WMG:Ange's bodyguard is actually [[FutureBadass Battler]]]]And a homage to [[FateStayNight a certain other popular visual novel franchise]]. Points in favour: We never saw Battler's body after the events of ''Banquet of the Golden Witch'', both affect a 'crosses for no reason' aesthetic, both are very protective of Ange, and... it would be funny.--> "Gretel??"--> ''"Amakusa??"''* If Battler is Kyrie's son, it's even easier: he doesn't need to start dying his hair, but only to ''stop'' doing so.* Actually, she wears a cross on her tie too, unless I'm mistaking it for something else.* In that case, if I may play Devil's Advocate, we assume he survived. Why on earth hide from everyone?** Crazy aunt who shot him in the chest.*** Why does he continue to hide after the crazy aunt died? [[color:red:Eva Ushiromiya is most certainly already dead by 1998.]]**** In order to effectively change yourself into another person, you have to give up who you used to be. That, or he's too used to being Amakuza to go back.

[[WMG:Beatrice is the mother of at least one of the Ushiromiya siblings, and possibly all of them.]]I honestly did have several good arguments for this, but I came up with them at 3 in the morning and the only one I can remember is that it would explain their oddly Caucasian appearance. ([[CaucasianAsian Not that this is something that's usually explained at all in anime]].)* It would work particularly well with Krauss, considering that a) Kinzo had known Beatrice since before he married Battler's grandmother, so the eldest would be most likely in theory, and b) Both Krauss and Jessica have blond-ish to blond hair, unlike the other siblings and grandkids.

[[WMG:Beatrice is ''Jessica's'' mother]]Specfically, the Beatrice of Kuwadorian. Krauss and Natsuhi suffered a lot of political grief for being unable to conceive a heir. Suddenly, after 10 years, Natsuhi 'magically' produces a baby. Gosh. If only there were another woman of childbearing age on the island around that time period...* She died when Rosa was about 10, right? Natsuhi had Jessica 18 years ago. Is Rosa only 28 years old? That means she had Maria at 19, so it's possible, but still seems unlikely.** Actually, the death of that Beatrice was less then 19 years ago (as she was alive to talk with Kinzo 19 years ago). Rosa also stated that it happen 'about 20 years ago', therefore Rosa couldn't be much older then 30 anyway. Furthermore, one of the main reasons she was so bullied by her siblings was she is much younger, making that age more believable.*** According to the anime, Kuwadorian stopped taking deliveries in 1968--18 years before 1986. The boat captain guessed that's when Beatrice died.

[[WMG:Rena is another one of the servants at the Ushiromiya mansion.]]It's stated that there are two other servants who work at the mansion but don't have their shifts on the days when the Ushiromiya family gathers there - Manon and, here's the kicker, Renon. This kakera's version of Rena's parent issues went even worse, and for some reason, she was left at the Fukuin house. Eventually, she was allowed to serve at the Ushiromiya Mansion, and in adopting the "on" character, changed her name to "Renon." Note: This only works if she is just called "Rena" in this world and didn't have to switch from "Reina." Still has some minor problems with the difference between "Rena" (Higurashi name in katakana) and Ren'a (name the way it would have to be written with the "ren" character), unless there's an alternate reading that fits better.

[[WMG: Kanon is Shannon.]]During the second episode the finger of suspicion points overwhelmingly towards Kanon. Only problem: [[color:red:Kanon died in this room]]. On the other hand, Shannon could have easily strangled Kanon in Jessica's bedroom before the families arrived, and assumed both roles with the power of modern brassiere technology. Or Shkanon could be a different individual in each arc, even. Maybe they've been doing this swapping for a long time now. I'm haunted by the image of them waking up every morning and asking: "Who wants to be the maid today?"* But they've already done that for Higurashi ([=* coughShmioncough* =]); why would 07th Expansion pull the same trick ''again''? Now, don't get me wrong; I would find it ''very'' hot for Kanon to crossdress, but I doubt that the company's going to use the predictable route here. For all we know, Kanon could've been set up...or that Beatrice is ''[[CloningBlues hiding]]'' something from everyone...-shifty eyes-* There's another piece of evidence that tends to be offered for this one too, although for a related theory that the two were always the same person - think SplitPersonality, which is actually the inversion of Shmion - that Battler has never seen the two in the same room. Granted, the problem with this theory is getting around Kanon standing over Shannon's corpse. And it was stated by Hideyoshi that because Shannon's face was only partially gone, it was impossible to claim she was someone else.* The biggest effect of bumping off Kanon is that it gives [MYSTERY CHARACTER X] another loophole through which to slither onto the island.* It feels even more plausible because Shannon fits the stereotype of a character who would get a SplitPersonality really well. I was even thinking that could be what the shattering of the mirror was referring to.* Another counter to the Kanon is Shannon argument... Game 1: The identities of all bodies are guaranteed. Both Kanon and Shannon died, with bodies that did not vanish. Explanation? There's also a counter to the prospect of Shannon killing Kanon then taking his place: "They definitely would not mistake any different person for Kanon."** A case has been made lower that Shannon's corpse may not have been there in the first arc to begin with, since the only ones to see it were Hideyoshi and Kanon (who may be Shannon). If there's no corpse, there's no identity to guarantee.** Lambda's exact words were that "the identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed". Given how much witches love twisting words, that's almost good as an admission that one of the ''identified'' corpses -- Shannon and Krauss -- ''isn't'' guaranteed. 'Shannon', for instance, could have been Kanon with two pillows stuffed down his shirt. (Or more mundanely: the identity of the person(s) playing the Shannon and Kanon roles varies from game to game.)** Lambdadelta also said: [[color:red:The only one who can claim Kanon's name is the person himself! A different person cannot claim his name!]], so it can only be Kanon disguising, not the other way around. It might be countered if that is allowed when the person disguised as Kanon never tries to say he or she is Kanon.*** Shannon would be the "real" person by seniority, since Battler knew her from 6 years ago but not Kanon. If she calls herself Kanon, it's not "someone else claiming his name".** [=EP6=] lends a ''lot'' of strength to this theory, and actually expands on it: Shannon is Kanon is ''also Beatrice''.*** During Zepar and Furfur's Trial of Love, they explicitly say that the reason that only one of the three couples can be happy together, because Kanon, Shannon, and the resurrected Beatrice have 'incomplete souls', and that two of them must die to 'complete' the third. As two of them fade away, we see a flashback to Battler describing his ideal woman--a description that fits Beatrice to a T.**** Each one of the three is made to be the object of attraction of one of the siblings. Shannon is for satisfying George, Kanon for Jessica, and Beatrice for Battler. Maria hasn't hit puberty yet, but it's obvious she has a close relationship with Beatrice, so it still sort of works.*** Kanon's escaping one closed room to rescue meta-Battler from another: the simplest theory that explains it is that Kanon was NEVER in the sealed room--"he" was Shannon, in the other room, and Erika's own insistence on guaranteeing "Everyone else is in this room" came back to bite her bigtime.*** "Sorry, but - " "[[color:red:Even if you join us - ]]" "[[color:red:There are 17 people.]]"*** My only problem is this "[[color:red:"I am Furudo Erika, the detective!! I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!!"]]. She was able to say it in red even though it was a lie -- whereas when Battler tried to declare in red that he's Asumu's son, he was stopped in his tracks while trying to mutter it. **** People = alive, human = just a body. If you execute Erika in the TIPS it says she washed up on shore dead in the first place. This "definition of people" was already specified with the Kinzo shenanigans, right? Although in that case, she's really the 19th human. Oh well.**** That's easy. You simply miscalculated. 16 people (that is, everyone that is alive) + 1 = 17 people. 17 humans (that is, everyone alive plus Kinzo) + 1 = 18 humans. [[color:blue: Erika thought that there were 17 people on the island without her, and stated that she was the 18th human, which was true. Then, when Battler and Beatrice stated that even with her on the island there were only 17 people, she couldn't find a way to justify her existence and disappeared in a PuffOfLogic.]] That way, she was Retconned into never actually arriving to the island alive, and just being a body. This is the [[color:blue:only]] way that the 6th game can be solved.** Shannon certainly seems to have the right body type to be the "Beatrice" seen in Episodes 2 (where the only people who have a long conversation with her are Kanon and Shannon) and Episode 4 (where Kanon's body vanished and Shannon's (I think) wasn't found until after Beatrice talked to Battler). Unless she usually pads her bra, though, it's hard to imagine her disguising herself as Kanon and still being able to breathe.** The "sin of six years ago" could be Battler's abandoning Shannon.* One major problem with this theory is in [=EP5=]. During TheSummation, Erika gathers all the survivors in one room to explain whodunnit, and I'm pretty certain both Kanon and Shannon were showed as present. The only excuses I can think of are:** Despite being The Detective, Erika's still an UnreliableNarrator, what with all the getting into arguments with ghosts and yelling about Bernkastel-sama at the dinner table and whatnot.** Lambdadelta was screwing around, and somehow made them separate characters for this one game.** IIRC, an easy explanation to that is that, while Shannon and Kanon were shown together while Erika was the detective, they were never shown APART. This is the equal, but opposite, way that Erika and Battler will only see one person (as Detective) and that person is the original...'Sayo'. Yes...that would mean that Jessica is lesbian and Sayo created the Kanon persona because she was feeling sorry for her. The reason why Kanon kept denying his feelings for Jessica is because Sayo didn't want to admit that she was starting to become attracted to another woman.

[[WMG: Orphans. Pfft.]]The servant staff are orphans taken in by Kinzo out of the kindness of his bleeding heart? Don't make me laugh. They're bastard Ushiromiya spawn. George is proposing to his cousin, or maybe his aunt. No wonder Eva is pissed.* Rudolf could have laid in the younger generation of furniture singlehandedly.* [[spoiler:Disturbingly enough, it's looking like this is right.]]

[[WMG: Happy halloween for Maria!]]Because she had every reason to be happy. The murder scene in the chapel wasn't a blasphemous parody of a celebration. It wasn't a parody at all! It was meant to be a real celebration! A big damn halloween party with drinks and candies and decorations, presided over by the smiling Witch of Rokkenjima. All to cheer up a heartbroken nine year old girl. How great would that have been, seriously? * This goes a long way to explaining Rosa's witch encounter in the rose garden. Beatrice (really Sayo in a funny wig, but Maria isn't going to notice) gives the two of them envelopes -- Rosa's (containing an invitation the party) 'to open at the family conference' and Maria's (containing the chapel key) 'to open at the right time'. Too bad Rosa just plain forgot about hers until past Maria's bedtime. It also explains why Beatrice affected a jacket-and-tie look for that episode: lavish Western-style dresses are hard to come by at short notice in the Izu Archipelago.* Turn the chessboard around. Think of the the poor killer who lugged six heavy corpses across the island in darkness and the pouring rain, soaked to the skin, shivering and exhausted, and then turned on the lights and said... "The '''fuck?'''"

[[WMG: Sometimes I think it was my twin that drowned; sometimes I think it was me]]Rosa met a living Beatrice when she was a child. One died. One lived. Rosa's body broke on the rocks. Beatrice escaped out into the endless world. They were most likely half-sisters; it's not inconceivable that one estranged sibling could pass for another. Maria, if only you knew how near Beatrice is to you even now... ...Now I'm just becoming paranoid. Unless that's what they want me to think?* You are not taking the age gap into account. Rosa was a little girl, while Beatrice was well into her teen years.** I think Beatrice's sprite was misleading in that scene. Rosa narrated that she assumed she and Beatrice were the same age, and only later realised Beatrice was 'older than she looked'. And of course the older they get, the less an age gap matters[[hottip:* :Well. I don't entirely think it's true, but on the scales of 'Awesomeness' and 'Improbableness' it scores easy 10s]].

[[WMG: Beatrice is the only compassionate person in the story]]Everybody on Rokkenjima dies. That's the brute facts of the matter, independant of anybody's interpretation. Beatrice isn't their killer. Beatrice is their ''redeemer''. She is the one who lifts up the brute facts and ennobles them with stories of star-crossed love and selfless courage and desperate heroism. She is the ultimately healthy and ''humane'' response the agony of the house of Ushiromyia. She is heartless and vain and utterly cruel, because only an utterly cruel witch could 'answer' their suffering.

Rejecting fantasy is like ripping off a bandaid quickly. Rejecting fantasy means prebreaking your heart.* This, of course, is how she intends to break Battler. Also, Reality Bites.

[[WMG: Endgame]]Battler is right not to submit to Beatrice, not because it represents a cosmic defeat for the forces of Reason (that's just his ego talking), but because it would be a diminishment of both parties -- abandonment of the potential for a more ordered cosmos where witches and detectives make love, not war. Their true victory condition is a marriage, a truth both Battler-ian and Beatrice-ian, to parallel and complete the thwarted marriage of Kinzo and Beatrice half a century ago. Their true enemy is Lambdadelta, who wants to grind their 'truths' against one another until there's no truth left at all; a witch who sees 'reason' and 'magic' only as components of a moral trap to imprison Bernkastel (and the player) forever.* You're right!! You're freaking spot-on! This is ''exactly'' the way the conflict in ''Chiru'' is playing out (except Lambda and Bern are actually conspiring against the players, not each other).* Actually, in [=EP6=], Lambdadelta seems to be TrueNeutral in this, both conspiring with Bernkastel and occasionally helping Battler and Beatrice. ''Bernkastel'' is the villain, who just wants to destroy the game utterly and move on. You are right about the marriage, though...

[[WMG: Sakutaro mauled everyone to death]]He is not a ''tame'' lion.* I don't understand. Can you explain, please?** It's a ShoutOut to TheChroniclesOfNarnia. (See also "Sakutaro is coming back", below.)* Listen to Sakutaro's theme. Listen to Happiness of Marionette (EVA's theme). Compare, consider, recoil in horror.

[[WMG: The killer and the staker are strictly different people]]Many of the household have reason to kill, but very few have reason to act out an abnormal occult ritual. Plus, trying to hit people in melee with a stake or jury-rigged stake-launching-apparatus sounds more like a recipe for black comedy.--> Kthunk! ''AIEEE!''--> (Oh, bother. I meant to stake Rudolf in the thigh and hit him in the bollocks instead. Was there anything in the epitaph about "gouge the testicle and kill"?)Also, the connection between the deaths and the epitaph is sometime very, very strained. 'Tear apart the two who are close' in ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' amounts to Jessica turning up with a stake in her back, and a whole lotta creative interpretation. For all we know she died of asthma.

Very few of the stakings could kill a person, anyway. They're all done postmortem. Who could the staker be? The adults all die and stakings continue. The servants all die and stakings continue. Jessica dies, George dies, Maria dies... but nothing can stop the stakings! It's just barely conceivable that Nanjo could have staked everybody singlehandedly -- even though that requires staking ''himself'' in ''Turn of the Golden Witch''. It absolutely staggers credulity that Battler could be doing it. If any bit of the story demands for a supernatural explanation, it's the horrifying consistency of the stakings.* If there's a stranger on the island, this could easily be their role. Not killing anybody, not even speaking to anybody -- just running about striking stakes into dead guys, painting magic glyphs and writing letters, like some demented stagehand to the grisly Rokkenjima theatre.** Doesn't have to be a stranger. Could be Maria. If she thought Beatrice wanted her to, she'd do it, and she has the requisite knowledge.

[[WMG: The witch's challenge has nothing to do with murder]]It's a scam. By Kyrie. To squeeze money out of Krauss. A faked letter here, a blithe comment of having seen a 'strange blonde woman' there, and the poor paranoid git is putty in her hands. What in the world could possibly be simpler?* Alternately, it could be a scam by ''Krauss''. Allow me to explain:** In [=EP5=], we find out that Krauss' financial straits are just as desperate as the other siblings, if not worse--in addition to being ruined, he's in danger of of destroying the family fortune and possibly jail time.** Unlike the others, he has proof that Kinzo's gold really does exist.** After Kinzo's death, he almost certainly got Kinzo's signet ring, for use sealing those letters.** He's tried and failed to solve the riddle himself, but if he can trick his siblings into helping...?** Pride (and simple self-preservation) keep Krauss from coming clean to his family about the predicament he's in, so he's following Kinzo's example - betting everything on an unlikely outcome and hoping for a miracle. Losing the family headship would be a terrible blow, but nowhere nearly as bad as what's going to happen if he doesn't try.*** In [=EP3=] and 5, this scheme actually worked. In the others...not so much.

[[WMG: The witch's challenge isn't a scam, or a trick, or any such thing]]It's a letter, from Beatrice, exactly as it claims. Because Kumasawa is Beatrice, Kinzo's much-speculated secret lover. It's laying claim to all Kinzo's wealth. Because Kinzo willed all his wealth not to his hated children, but to his one true love. What in the world could possibly be simpler?* ''At no point does the author of the letter claim to be a witch''. The letter writer describes her role as an 'alchemy counselor' and signs as 'Beatrice the Golden', whereas the murder letter is signed 'The Golden Witch, Beatrice'. Unlike the villain(s), Kumasawa has no reason to pretend to being a witch -- everyone knows those don't exist!

[[WMG: Somebody is manipulating the 'Beatrice mythos' in order to cause murders]]* In the first episode, the Golden Land is a generically nonspecific happy place the victims go to when they die.* In the second episode, suddenly the rule is that thirteen people will die, and the five survivors with pass bodily into the golden land without dying: the golden land is now a land of infinite regality. Conveniently enough, this is told to Shannon, who is in love with her employer. Bribing someone with their heart's desire has to be a pretty good inducement to murder.* In the third episode, Beatrice declares -- completely out of the blue -- that the person who solves the epitaph will become house head. Funny she never thought to mention ''that'' before. But a life's wish to Eva. The kind of wish worth going to any length for. Somebody knows the psychological weaknesses of the House of Ushiromiya, and they're gonna kill all of them without having to lift a finger.

[[WMG: Rosa's little turns...]]...aren't her fault. She just couldn't say no to that all expenses paid bed-and-breakfast holiday in the picturesque town of Hinamizawa. So sorry...* Or it's Lambdadelta.

[[WMG: The Golden Village is Hell]]Think about it. What color is fire? What has to be done for the revival of the Golden Witch? Horrific ritual sacrifices, that's what. And if the murderer/s is/are indeed a human on the island, you can guess where they'll be going after death, considering quite a bit of the imagery in the games. Sure, it seems like a great place, but has anyone ever stated in red text what it truly is?* Well, that and the fact everyone who lives to Beatrice's revival is described as being sent to Hell afterwards.

[[WMG: The next chapter is going to be 'Turn of the Battler']]Where Battler uses his meta-capacity to reconstruct the murders in an uber-clinical {{CSI}} fashion, and Beatrice has her turn to express moral outrage. "How could you be heartless? Your own mother... how could you suspect your own mother like that, Battler? You're a monster! A monster!"

[[WMG: Gaap is actually Shannon]]Working off the theories that some have come up with about Ronove being Genji and Virgilia being Kumasawa. Both are Beatrice's furniture, and both are also Kinzo's servants. So all of a sudden, we have this new, scantily clad furniture named Gaap with no real hint as to her origin, unlike Ronove sharing Genji's last name and Kumasawa actually turning into Virgilia. So what are we to do? Well, there are four servants left, if we assume that all furniture is actually a servant - Gohda, Shannon, Kanon, and Nanjo (being liberal and including him here, though he's not really a servant). Gohda's the easiest one to rule out - unlike all other servants except Nanjo, he is not allowed to wear the symbol of both the Ushiromiya family and Beatrice, the one-winged eagle. As such, it's unlikely he could be represented as Beatrice's furniture. Nanjo is an iffy one to add as a servant period - he's closer to a friend of Kinzo - and I fail to see the logic in representing him with a scantily clad female piece of furniture, as it would need to be pulled off ridiculously well in order not to send the audience into fits of laughter. That leaves Shannon and Kanon, who many already think may be one character. If so, then we've already ruled it down to one suspect. I marked him/her down as "Shannon" because she's more likely to be the main one - she's been at the mansion longer.* There are a lot of things that support this. Gaap's outfit, between the large breasts and the slit (like the slit in Shannon's skirt), the fact that she takes George's test and it takes place in the arbor of all places, which is where he would have proposed to her...the fact that a ''lot'' of the dialogue between the two at the beginning of the test would seem to imply Shannon lied about being in love with him, and George is determined to show her the determination of his love...I think there's still more to support it as well, but I'm drawing a blank.

[[WMG: Genji is a Genie]]The names are only a few letters off,and in a strange way it would make sense. The roulette? His three wishes.

[[WMG: Beatrice is not the true antagonist.]](Note that this troper hasn't gotten far in the game and may be wrong in this theory...)True, Beatrice did eat Battler at the end of the 1st game and is always attacking everyone with her stakes, but the way she treats Maria just doesn't fit with her 'evil nature'. I mean, she's a ''witch'' for the love of god! She's supposed to murder, drive people insane, etc, not take care of one of the children. Also, take note of her and Battler's [[GoKartingWithBowser relation]][[WorthyOpponent ship]]. So it's either there's [[TheManBehindTheMan someone pulling the strings from behind]] that even ''she'' doesn't know about or it's a case of EvenEvilHasStandards.* The ??? Tea Party of episode 3 confirms that Lamdbadelta is TheManBehindTheMan and Episode 4's ??? Tea Party seems to be setting 34 and Bern up as antagonists of an entirely different level from Beatrice.

[[WMG: The series is a stealth sequel to ''HitherbyDragons'']]Beato and the Mariage Sorcerie are gods created by Maria, in the same way that Eva-Beatrice is a god born to answer Eva's suffering. Battler ascended as a Hero during the tea party at the end of ''Legend of the Golden Witch'': hence his growing supernatural power and inability to affect real events (the blood of the People of Salt is strong Kinzo's family). And the Monster...

...[[MonsterAGoGo there is no monster]]. There's just folks, trying to get by.

[[WMG: You want to hear a story?]]I only know one story, truthfully. It's a sad story and I'm not sure it would be right for you to hear it.

You insist? The story is about a girl called Ms. Beatrice-- Oh! Yes, the name should sound familiar to you, though this Ms. Beatrice is not a witch... or at least, not yet, and not in the important ways. Beatrice wasn't even her real name. It was a name she chose for herself, because all the famous alchemists had pretend names for themselves, and an alchemist -- a person who makes miracles real -- was exactly what she longed to be. She was a very foolish and young girl. But one day she met a Mr. Goldsmith. Oh! He was young, then, and beautiful, and he thought the world belonged to him. Every girl only had to look at him to fall in love -- you'll understand, too, when you're a little older. And Ms. Beatrice and Mr. Goldsmith both wanted to see a miracle, and they didn't believe that anything was impossible, and they were in love. And they made it happen. They made a true miracle. They studied secrets others scoffed at, and they learned things that had never before been learned, and they transmuted ten tons of lead into pure gold before their eyes.

Mr. Goldsmith was delighted! Now he could redeem the honour of his family, which other had laughed at, and he could live as he pleased and do as he liked. And Ms. Beatrice was delighted because she had exceeded all the famous alchemists of the past. So they made a contract. A foolish contract: that Mr. Goldsmith would have all the gold to redeem his family, and when he died everything that he made with the gold would pass to Ms. Beatrice. And they laughed as they signed it, because they were young and beautiful and thought the world was endless.

But even though they loved one another, Mr. Goldsmith married another woman. He said it was necessary somehow for his family. And Ms. Beatrice had to pretend not to be a lover or an alchemist but just an ordinary person. But they still laughed about their joke in secret. Then one day Ms. Beatrice bore a child... a child who Mr. Goldsmith said would shame the family name, and had to live in a secret house nobody knew of, like a bird a in a cage. And they laughed a bit less after that. And one day -- oh, sorry, my dear, it's nothing, just a speck in my eye -- but one day, the poor child escaped from her cage and dived from a cliff and broke her body on the rocks. Nobody knows why she did... you can't ever know another person. Not really. After that they stopped talking very much to one another. And Ms. Beatrice actually came to secretly resent Mr. Goldsmith a little, because she was old now, and she would never be able to enjoy the gold the way she could if she were young. And Mr. Goldsmith came to secretly fear Ms. Beatrice a little, because he thought she was doing nothing but wait for him to die. It was a funny situation, but neither of them were laughing any more.

Oh...\\That's it. That's the end of the story.\\I told you it was a sad story.\\I don't think you should be telling this story to anybody else. It's just a silly, sad story, right?\\Look, Maria, there's your cousins coming back from the beach. Go and play with them for a while. I've been sitting for too long and ''-ohhhhhhhhhh-'' my knees aren't what they used to be. I'll play with you again the next time you visit, ok?

[[WMG: Umineko is not fantasy or mystery, it's science fiction]]Think about it. Alchemy laid the foundations for chemistry. The witches refer to Schroedinger's Cat and Menger's sponge. The [[spoiler: Siesta sisters have an OS that needs rebooting and shoot laser arrows.]] Beatrice herself says that [[spoiler: Kinzo created a homunculus to trap her.]] The servants consider themselves not human, but furniture - what if [[spoiler: they're actually clones or cyborgs?]] That last would explain Shannon and Kanon in Episode 4. It would allow not only a logical solution to the murders, but also the fantastic elements in the game. After all, time travel and alternate dimensions are all perfectly within the rules of SF...* That explains the so-called witches, sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic.** [[color:red:Knox's 4th. It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard to understand scientific devices to be used.]]*** [[color:blue:It has not yet been stated whether the story conforms to Knox's Decalogue. I propose that it doesn't... And also that Beatrice is Maria from the future!]] Small Bombs for Everyone! Yaaayyyy!!!** [[color:blue:Time travel, cloning, alternate dimensions, androids, and such are not difficult to understand in a way that affects the plot. Furthermore, the rule only affects unknown drugs or hard-to-understand devices that require a complicated explanation at the end of the story. If the rules of the devices are spelled out as the story goes or all required explanations are simple, the rule does not prevent science fiction elements.]]** From EP 5: "[[color:red:I will REPEAT. By the name of god, I will not let such a drug or machine EXIST. I will not allow them to exist ''for all ETERNITY''.]]" If Umineko is a tale that can be solved by using all the clues of the games, then such devices would render would render the whole tale mostly pointless. After all, if you have managed to solve a mystery without anybody telling you the answer, wouldn't you be pissed if the REAL answer was an AssPull? That said, the different "kakeras" in the Meta-World may count as alternate dimensions, but only in a meta-sense; they can't help in solving the riddle.* While I admit I'm certainly no fan of Umineko, stopped watching the anime around episode 25 or so, and thus haven't been through everything as thoroughly as the majority of those debating here have, but I must still make the following points the above discussion seems to have forgotten:# On the subject of Knox's Rules, we must remember that they are merely suggestions meant to advance the quality of detective literature, not universal laws that have mathematical proofs to back them up. They should be considered more like the general consensus around Mary Sues or Self Insert fanfics. Most of such things are rubbish, but some are quite good. Heck, Dante's Divine Comedy is a self insert fanfic of the Bible and is a respected classic all the same. So while Knox's Rules probably shouldn't (and in Umineko, probably won't) be broken, they still can be without the universe imploding.# The 4th of Knox's Rules is probably one that has not withstood the test of time very well and thus its literal meaning seems to say things it doesn't. I personally would rewrite it if I could, but whatever. The general point that rule is trying to make is that the author shouldn't brag about how much he knows about chemistry or Rube Goldberg contraptions. Some random poison that comes from left field is a no-no, some random obscure scientific rule or process that the author either made up or somehow knows because he's a nerd is also a no-no. The latter is the point of debate here, and to bring it into context let's just say we have a murder mystery where the victim is found burning away in his favorite chair or something. Following Knox's 4th, random chemical reactions are a no-no, spontaneous human combustion is a no-no, and so on. If the victim burnt to death, there has to be a match or flame or flamethrower that set him on fire. Note the flamethrower is fine. Yes, a flamethrower can be used as a murder weapon, you just have to justify its existence to begin with. Higher forms of technology is fine, they just have to fit the setting and be shown to the reader so that they count as evidence.# "Magic" and "science" are difficult to distinguish after magic has been explained. One might think of magnetism as magic if you aren't introduced to the principles behind it early enough. Say a wizard explained everything about how to make fireball, right up to what physical law allows for it; you'd probably still think of it as magic, simply because it's too out there for your brain to place into the "science" file folder. In fiction, this becomes a problem. As a result, "fantasy" and "science fiction" are separate by this maxim: "Fantasy is where the impossible is possible and science fiction is where the improbable is probable." Put that in red if you want, I'm to lazy to. The vast majority of things in Umineko are quite impossible. It's fantasy, straight up, but that's not always a bad thing. Science fiction isn't "intelligent" fantasy and fantasy isn't "ignorant" or "unexplained" science fiction. They're two separate genres, not [[{{Pokemon}} evolutionary forms]] of the same thing. Just because the Witches here are well versed in quantum mechanics doesn't mean that their magic doesn't violate the laws of nature. Lot's of scientific laws are true in fantasy works, but it's the ones that are clearly violated that make it a fantasy proper. Science fiction (well, good science fiction) rarely violates real world laws, otherwise they may as well be casting a spell to teleport their spaceship.# Magic itself violates Knox's 2nd. Straight up. However, giving all of what appeared to be supernatural events explanations (such as the servants being robots) would legitimately violate Rule 4. Where did this miraculous technology come from? How did that crazy old man I forget the name of acquire that technology and keep it from both the world and the reader? Why are they calling it magic to begin with instead of just saying its high tech? It's all too elaborate a conspiracy. Heck, you probably shouldn't even trust your eyes all the time. Remember, everything after the first round of murders is constructed. Logically, it isn't a game meant to give a fair chance to both sides, just some stupid false reality that is presented to Battler as somehow being legitimate and one that follows any kind of ruleset. Unless one of the Witches says in red "I'm not playing this game with loaded dice," we have to logically assume that they are and thus trying to get Battler to submit to them (or whatever they want, idk, I couldn't follow anyone's motives at all). The only murder mystery that we can say is actually worth solving at all is the first one, not the endless game Battler and Beatrice play. As a result, we should be looking for clues to that one, truths that are found in a sea of lies. Everything else is freshly prepared RedHerring. ** The original version of Knox's 2nd does indeed forbid the use of any magic. However, the Umineko version of Knox's 2nd only prevents it from being used as a detective techniqueTo save someone from yelling at me because it might sound like I'm saying Umineko is of low quality, think of it like this: there is a troupe of actors who preform a play based on how the troupe first met and got into acting. However, no two performances of the play are the same, with variations here and there. One of the actors, Battler, has begun to become confused as to how the group legitimately first met, since all of the preformances being based around that has confused him. So off he goes to the director's girlfriend, Beatrice, to sort things out. She tells him that all of the events that he remembers, even ones that contradict reason, are true. Battler insists that only one can be true and that one must be the most logical. On it goes. In a sense, it is much like this. We have to assume that the first presentation of the events was the real one. Everything after that is false, unless revealed to be otherwise. Now I'm definately not saying that this is the literal explaination, but it is generally like that in the sense of the whole "the first mystery is the one you should be focusing on, dummköpfe" thing.

[[WMG:Beatrice (as in the Beatrice who supposedly gave Kinzo the gold) never existed]]It's a popular EpilepticTree of the ''DivineComedy'' that Dante's Beatrice never existed: a female muse and a fashionably tragic love life were almost required for a poet at the time, and so Dante Alighieri invented Beatrice from whole cloth to give himself something to emote about. Is Kinzo enough of a moody Europhile git to try the same thing? Maybe! There's something very ironic about killing in the name of a woman that never lived.* All of you who thought: 'That can't be true! The Divine Comedy is too beautiful for Beatrice not to be real!' You're all officially anti-Mystery. :)* Then how did Kinzo get the gold? How do you explain his relationship with the Beatrice in Kuwadorian?

[[WMG:Shannon died, or almost died, six years ago]]She does say that she's been, briefly, to the Golden Land. From an anti-fantasy perspective, the Golden Land is death.* When does she say this, again?

[[WMG:Jessica is Beatrice]]I have been kicking around the theory that Beatrice is in fact a hidden personality of Jessica, born from her own frustration at her position, Kinzo's madness, and perhaps Battler's percieved abandonment of her. I'm going to try and put my complete theory down in this thread, as I've only posted bits and pieces of it in various threads.

First of all. This theory assumes the information from Episode 3 concerning Beatrice is correct. Kinzo met her years before, and after borrowing the gold, fell in love with her. Kinzo, undeterred when she rejected him, simply took her by force, building a hidden mansion on the island he bought and imprisoning her there. Unable to escape, she eventually commited suicide.

However, she had a child, or Kinzo found an infant that bore a high enough resemblance, and this child was kept on in the hidden mansion for her entire life, looked after by Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo checking up on occasion. Years later, Rosa stumbles across the hidden mansion, and meets Beatrice #2 who has been desiring to leave and see the outside world. She leads that Beatrice out, only for her to fall from a cliff and die on the rocks below.

Again, she may have been pregnant, or another child was acquired. The timing here is important. Battler and Jessica were both born in 1967 roughly, since they are both 18 in 1985. In '67 Krauss and Natsuhi had been trying to conceive unsuccessfully for more than a decade. Since Kuwadorian wasnt used after Beatrice #2 died accidentally, Kinzo must have wanted to keep the newly born Beatrice someplace she could be kept under observation and not so isolated. So, he gave the child to Krauss and Natsuhi, sternly ordering them to look after her as their own. He may have even told them not to worry about proper succession, as she carried his blood. This might be why Krauss and Natsuhi are somewhat distant from their daughter.

Battler is born at roughly the same time, Rudolph's son, though not to Asumu. Asumu probably miscarried instead of Kyrie, and the Ushiromiyas forced Kyrie to turn over her child to Rudolph and Asumu. The miscarried child was going to also be named Battler, that name got passed on to Kyrie's firstborn (this is also why Battler and Ange look so alike). It has also been theorized that Jessica is actually Rudolph and Asumu's daughter, and was given over to Krauss for some reason. Then Battler was taken from Kyrie, and she may have been led to believe her child died.

As time passes, Kinzo's mind slips further into madness. Jessica is raised normally, though as she gets older Kinzo begins paying more and more attention to her, convinced she is yet another Beatrice. When Jessica and Battler are about 12, Battler says something to Jessica that leaves a deep impression on her, even if he thought little of it. He might have bragged that he'd come charging to the rescue if she were ever in trouble, or he'd help her escape from her oppressive family, something along those lines.

Shortly after, Asumu dies. Rudolph remarries quickly, to Kyrie, who is pregnant with Ange. Battler can't accept this turn of events, and leaves the family to live with Asumu's parents.

Kinzo's madness worsens. Jessica feels like Battler abandoned her. Kinzo starts visiting Jessica more often, telling her about the previous Beatrices, and revealing many of his secrets to her. At some point, Kinzo makes a move on Jessica. Given Kinzo's personality, he's not likely to ask. Also recall what Beatrice said about Kinzo's interests... This may have happened more than once. At some point, Jessica's mind, unable to accept what was happening to her and despairing over Battler, who never came, broke down and a new persona was formed, taking the name of Beatrice.

Sometime before the family conference in 1985, Kinzo dies. Jessica may have killed him, perhaps trying to resist him. Krauss might have done it as well if he found out what was going on with all of Jessica's visits to his room (remember, like Rudolph told Kyrie once, even though he brags and blusters, Krauss can become the most reliable of the siblings when the chips are down. If he found out Kinzo was raping his daughter, I don't think Kinzo would be around much longer.). Either way, it was neccessary to conceal Kinzo's death, in order to protect his family and also prevent the distribution of the inheritance. In all likelyhood, all of the negative memories and emotions Jessica had experienced got shoved onto Beatrice and locked away.

A few more years pass. Beatrice spends most of the time dormant, though she does come forward to speak to Shannon, sadistically urging her forward deeper into a relationship with George,which she thinks is bound to fail. She even tells Kanon as much when he catches her before she regresses after one of her meetings with Shannon. Which makes the relationship Jessica wants to make with him rather... awkward, since he's afraid this is another cruel joke of Beato's. George and Shannon's relationship seems to be poised to succeed despite all odds, much to Jessica and Beato's envy.

Then word comes to Rokkenjima: Battler is coming back into the family. Beatrice awakens, and begins forming a plan to take revenge on Battler for forgetting his promise to her.

Jessica is in the perfect position to set the ball rolling. From her father, she know that all the siblings are in a precarious position financially. The tensions regarding the succession of the headship are getting high, especially with the rumor being spread among the siblings that whoever solves Kinzo's riddle will become the next head. Confirming this is enough to get people all hot and bothered.

Now throw in some wild cards. Through Kinzo, Jessica knows where the gold is. She knows the servants, probably better than her parents. She knows where Kinzo keeps Beatrice's old clothes. She knows about the emergency funds Kinzo set up, and where he kept all the keys. She can get out from her parents supervision for days at a time under the pretense of bad weather. She knows the ins and outs of both mansions. And don't forget, she knows Maria will believe just about anything if you say you are a witch.

From here, events depend upon the exact conditions of the game. She might carry out some of the killings herself, or it might not even be neccessary. She could be the person putting the magic circles and whatnot around the house, since she and Nanjo are the likliest to know how to make proper symbols (and she knows Maria can read them).

In the case of Episode 2, after she or her accomplice killed all the parents but Rosa, Kanon may have confronted her while she was alone with him. He stabbed her, she retaliated, and wound up killing him. She moved the body out of her room and hid it someplace, then locked herself back into her room, and later died.

Though, could she have been faking? I remember Beato saying Kanon was dead with the red, but was Jessica's death confirmed in the way? I don't recall as much, but if she knew where Kanon's body was, she could have dressed in his bloody clothes and a wig to fool the servants, however briefly, while she waited for a chance to attack them.

Not much red was used in Ep4, and none regarding Jessica really. She could have worn Beatrice's clothes and greeted Battler from the balcony. Despite Battler's surity that it was 'Beatrice', his outlook was warped after the converation with Kyrie. Plus, I dont know if it was a translation error or not: she was described as coming out of the second floor balcony. But Kinzo's room is on the THIRD floor, right? Jessica's is on the second flood if I recall correctly though... Either way, Battler was looking up at her from 10-20 feet or so, in the dark, while it was raining hard. I'm not going to begrudge him for fooling himself into believing it.

So anyway, that is my theory. There are holes in it, and plenty of things are still not explained. I'm not even touching who the 'Kinzo' that appeared in Ep4 was. But it covers alot pretty well I think.* That is horrible and gothic and nasty and I love it and find it painfully plausible.* In episode 3 at least, it's stated in red that "[[color:red:Ushiromiya Jessica has not committed murder.]]"* But would Beatrice count anything done by 'Beatrice' as something ''Jessica'' did, or not? No wonder she's confused...* I love this theory. I'm trying to figure out a way to update it through five, what with Jessica being one of the first murders there. In that one, Battler found the gold and became the new head, so... is it possible that perhaps in a fit over how a wrench had been thrown into all of her plans, Jessitrice (Beatrice as Jessica's split personality, as opposed to Beato and past Beatrices) decides to try to frame Battler? I'm not sure if it's stated in red that the murders took place in the cousins' room or whether the corpses were moved there later, but... let's posit for a moment that most of the murders occurred somewhere else and Jessitrice was in the process of moving them up into their room while Battler was sleeping. Then, maybe Rosa comes in to check on Maria and sees what happened. Jessitrice flips and kills her, and then, in a panic, commits suicide. Kumasawa and... I forget which is the other servant to die. Genji, I think? Anyway, Jessitrice hadn't finished moving them up yet by the time she killed herself, so they're somewhere else. That doesn't clear up why Hideyoshi dies later or why Battler didn't wake up with the noise that would have probably occurred during Rosa popping in, but, well, it's a start. Please correct me - I'm certain I'm missing some facts on this.* I also suspect Jessica to be Beatrice, mainly due to the scorpion charm she gave to Natsuhi, and she knowing about George's death in Episode 4 and all. Also the talk about another self in Episode 2. You have put quite a back story there for this. The things I'm unsure of are that who Battler's sin involves, as in Episode 4 Beatrice said the sin isn't between Battler and Beatrice. If Jessica's split personality counts to this, I'd suspect it would be Shannon (and Kanon if they indeed are the same person). As the mystery should be able to be solved with the Question arcs, the only reason I could think for this would be Battler's Engrish speeches, and he said he had some kind of crush on Shannon. The sentence of Battler's sin not being between Battler and Beatrice could also be explained with the split personality forming only after Battler committed the sin, but that seems kinda pushing it. But clearly she's having a grudge about it. But it is so bad she's prepared to kill herself for it.* It could be that this is somewhere else on this hefty WMG list, but I think this theory meshes rather well with the Shkanon theory. I like to think that if Jessica and Beatrice being the same is due to her being broken, it's entirely possible that Shannon knew this, and Kanon spawned out of pity for this situation. It would also explain why Shannon and Kanon take orders from Beatrice. She's someone he/she/they/whoever would know, and is also one of the Ushiromiya family. At the same time, it would explain those friendly visits Shannon has with Beatrice. Either we go the superstition route, or Shannon knows it's Jessica and they're already close anyways. Just throwing that one out with no idea how relevant/irrelevant it is. Pretty much just started trying to make any manner of theories after [=EP6=] to cope with the wait for the next Episode and am running off pure recollection. So feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

[[WMG:Maria kills Rosa in more arcs than just the 4th, particularly the 2nd]]I was staring at the ending of the second arc and Maria's cute little monologue about how "There's only one Mama." Then I thought back to the fourth arc in which Rosa tears up Sakutarou and Maria kills her or begs Beatrice to kill her. Please, someone correct me if I'm just plain wrong on the details here, since at the moment, I only have bits and pieces I've seen. Okay, here goes. Before Rosa tore up Sakutarou, there was a social worker in the room. So that scene couldn't have taken place on Rokkenjima. Thus is the explanation for why we never see Sakutarou on Rokkenjima - Rosa tore Sakutarou up before they came there. However, because it took place before Rokkenjima, it's probably safe to assume it occurs in all arcs, at least until proven otherwise. However, Rosa is always on Rokkenjima, and I believe even in the fourth arc, she's killed there, even though Maria talks about killing her as soon as Sakutarou's dead. So, what changed between the second and fourth arcs? Nothing relevant to their plotline as far as I can tell. In the second arc in particular, we are left with Maria and Rosa alone in the rose garden (discounting goat-headed butlers), which leaves me to suspect that at the least, one killed the other, and based on this line of thinking, I'm suspecting that Maria killed Rosa.

[[WMG:Maria is the result of a rape]]Social support for rape victims is sometimes poor even now, and would have been considerably worse when Maria was conceived. Often, rape victims were (and are) held as responsible for what happened to them, so Rosa would not have expected any sympathy at all for what happened to her. She's kept her mouth shut about just what happened because telling someone would just make things worse. In an upper-class family, she could become outcast and cut off from her inheritance even if it wasn't her fault. This would explain why she won't give anyone the name of Maria's father. It's simply too painful to talk about. (When I feel really cynical I think it was Kinzo.) Rosa loves Maria, but something about her features when she says "uu" has come, as Maria gets older, to remind Rosa of the man who raped her. That's why it's so very hard for her to tolerate it, and why Rosa is so inconsistent as a mother.* while rape is not impossible, rosa stated that she got pregnant with her fiancee so i find it ulikely.** But according to this theory, Rosa has every reason to lie. Even to Maria. After all, you wouldn't want to let a little nine year old girl know that she was the result of a rape. ** It's not like anythign Rosa says can be taken seriously. This is a theory this troper has personally always believed, it would explain quite a bit about why she's so broken and her bipolar attitude towards her daughter. In most of the later arcs, Rosa seems to imply [[spoiler: that Maria wasn't wanted at all.]]. Rosa being raped would make perfect sense...why else [[spoiler: would she have a daughter if she spends a good bit of [=EP4=] going on about how she never wanted a daughter?]]*** I haven't played the games or gotten that far in anything else, but...[[spoiler:[[ExactWords maybe she was after a son?]]]]

[[WMG:The "[[KingArthur Pendragon-sama]]" the Siestas report to is not Arthur, but ''[[FateStayNight Arturia]]'' Pendragon.]]Because why not? There are apparently trillions upon quadrillions upon quintillions upon googleplexes of kakera out there; why couldn't one of them be the {{Nasuverse}}?* Given that [[color:red:Chi[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi e]] is based of [[{{Tsukihime}} C]]iel]], I'd say its more likely to be Arturia then Arthur.

[[WMG: There are three murderers on Rokkenjima. ]]Well, not all at once. They take turns.

The '''disorganised killer''' from the first and fourth chapters: kills by smashing their victim's faces. Takes their victims seemingly at random from the parents and servants.

The '''theatrical killer''' from the second chapter: kills in a flashy ''grand guignol'' way. Kills every parent but Rosa.

The '''organised killer''' from the third chapter: kills in a neat and nearly bloodless way. Arranges the corpses in an elaborate 'locked room' pattern which is perhaps more clever than frightening. Kills servants + Kinzo's already-dead corpse.

''Every episode, the Unknown Mastermind takes one of the cast aside and tell them: Kill according to the epitaph and all the gold in the Golden Land is yours. Do otherwise and die yourself.''

The murderer for the first chapter was ''meant'' to be Rudolf. But being a principled fellow, he tells the mastermind to go to hell. Later, aware that he has signed his death warrant, he confesses to his wife and son: "I will probably die tonight." Without a catspaw, the Mastermind rampages through the mansion, killing at random.

The murderer for the second chapter is... Rosa? Maybe? Certainly she has the means and motive. On the other hand, there is such thing as ''too'' obvious.

The murderer for the third chapter is Kyrie, obviously. The first twilight practically screams it from the rooftops: 'Hello, I was committed by someone who is perhaps a little too proud of her intellect, but hates getting blood on her hands!'

The designated murderer for the fourth chapter is among the dead: like Rudolf, they made their principled stand and died for it, because the '''disorganised killer''' was unleashed again.

* But Kyrie dies too in the third arc, at the hands of Eva-Beatrice. Does the mastermind switch to use Eva as a pawn? Why?** After the first twilight, the snafu principle takes over. You've got survivors killing one another out of paranoia, killers killing more people to cover their tracks, half a dozen secret schemes coming unglued and trainwrecking into each other at 100 miles an hour... The simple explanation for Kyrie's death is something like: "Kyrie and Rudolf took Hideyoshi to the mansion to blackmail him over Rosa's murder, but they had a falling-out with guns."

[[WMG:There is a stranger on the island. We've already seem their face: though a glass darkly.]]Gaap is the only demon to not obviously correspond to a house servant. But for the pattern to hold, she must have ''some'' real world 'vessel'.

The Siestas are based on Maria's impression of her toy rabbits. In the same way, it's easy to see how in a child's eyes Genji could become an infinitely stylish demon, or Kumasawa become a witch, or the physically imposing Gohda become a goat-man (or maybe she was just free-associating off the name?) So, reverse the looking-glass logic that turns men into demons and we get... what?* ...What about Renon or Manon? They've been [[NominalImportance name-dropped]] but not seen yet; that doesn't mean ''Maria's'' never met them...

A short time before the start of the story, Rudolf contacts his illegitimate son by Kyrie (call him Our Battler) to impersonate his vanished half-brother (call him Other Battler[[hottip:* :Or Sento-kun]]) at the family meeting. Male heirs are a big deal in Kinzo's eyes: it could be the deciding factor in the inheritance fight. In return, Rudolf will legally recognise him as 'Ushiromiya Battler'. It takes a few months of coaching, but while several express incredulity at Battler's changes, nobody calls their bluff.

Then the murders happen. The purpose of the murders is to drive Battler to confessing his sin of six years ago. The real Battler would have leapt up and cried: 'Yes! I confess, I did it!' Our Battler just sits there in a passive lump thinking 'Why am I here? These people are ''insane!'''

But... Meta-Battler doesn't know any of this. The metaworld characters are impressions of realworld people or objects. He isn't 'really' Battler -- he's somebody's ''impression'' of Battler! Complete with an inferred history which would have proved impervious to anything but the red text. (Take it a bit further and it can also explain why Meta-Battler is a supercool action lawyer, and Our Battler is almost comatose).

It's no coincidence Meta-Battler vanishes in a puff of logic in the same scene that Beatrice realises Our Battler is unable to remember his sin. As Sakutaro demonstrated, a metacharacter 'dies' when their creator can't sustain belief in them any more.

[[WMG: Beatrice's epi-taff?]]Uuu. You mean the puzzle Grandpa made? Maria thought it was fun. Maria took all lunchtime to get it.

Uuuuu! Uuu! Stop shaking Maria! Uu! Stop! Stop! ...Yes, Maria solved it two years ago. Maria thought it was much more fun that all the puzzles in her puzzle book. Uuuu. Don't shout at Maria. No, Maria never told any of her aunties or uncles about what she did.

Beatrice specifically asked Maria not to.

Uuuu! Maria didn't know people could turn that colour!

* * knock knock* Who're you talking to in there, Maria? Sakutaro?** Oh, come in, Jessica. Maria has something she wants to say about last night that I think you ought to hear, ihihihihi.*** (Respondent here.) Oh, very cute, George. Have you tried imitating Battler to his face? I think he'd like it! Hmph-heh-heh-heh! [[hottip:* :Wasn't [=RPing=] as a canon character, but rather inserting my OC in there.]]

[[WMG: Battler has amnesia]]Battler arrives on Rokkenjima for the first time in six years of abandoning the family name. And yet, he gets along quite well with his cousins and his stepmother for someone who gave up on the whole lot of them. In fact, he even has a good impression originally of people like Eva, who's probably the hardest Ushiromiya to get along with. Here's a theory: six years ago, Battler's mother died, in some sort of horribly traumatic way, because of Battler. He didn't mean for it to happen, but the shock was too much and he ran away. Over time, he repressed his memories and convinced himself that it was actually Rudolf he was mad at.

[[WMG: The story is more closely connected to [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]] than anyone realizes.]]Umineko's alternate title is "When They Cry 3". Of course, Higurashi was When They Cry 1 and Higurashi Kai was When They Cry 2. So why assume that Bern and Lambda's appearances/"real-world" identities are the only link between them when the title itself implies Umineko is a sequel? Episode 4 has revealed another Higurashi character as connected (albeit loosely) with the Ushiromiyas.

Perhaps Rokkenjima is a test site for a weaponized form of Hinamizawa Syndrome. Or perhaps it's the other way around, and witch's magic was directly responsible for the Hinamizawa incidents. Either way, something tells me we haven't heard the last of Keiichi and co. (Also, I'm led to believe that in the original visual novels, Satoshi's whereabouts were still unknown by the end, although they changed this in the anime. Perhaps he is somehow involved in the Rokkenjima incident?)* They found Satoshi at the end of Higurashi Kai's VN (I'm pretty sure; the Kai adaptation was much more faithful than vanilla Higurashi) so I don't think he's related to Rokkenjima. And if you're talking about Okonogi, he only came in recently. Most likely after the Hinamizawa project fell through, he decided to start a legitimate business and became successful after meeting with Hideyoshi and striking a deal with him. In the span of 3 years, I doubt he would have any significance and was thrown in as a cameo.* Dlanor denies the possibilities of a disease or paranoia epidemic happening on the island. Ryukishi07 has also stated in an interview that he would not be pulling something like that again, and has officially denied the possibility of Hinamizawa Syndrome or something like it from ever showing up.

[[WMG: What really happened in ''Turn of the Golden Witch''?]]While attending to the family conference late in the evening, Rosa came by the kitchen and mentioned to Gohda that there was going to be a Halloween party for Maria in the chapel the next day. Thinking this was a wonderful idea, Gohda decided to make some special treats for the occasion, but because he was distracted he accidentally reached for the box marked "Tiny Food Bombs" instead of the sugar. He gave some of the treats to Rosa, who took them to her siblings. They all went to the chapel to check out the party since they'd probably be too tired in the morning, when the tiny food bombs exploded and killed everyone but Rosa, who wasn't hungry.

Later, Gohda was hanging out and he heard Jessica having an asthma attack. Rushing upstairs, he found Kanon with her and reached for her inhaler, but as he swung it over to give it to her she tripped and he accidentally impaled her in the back with it. Kanon assumed he was trying to kill her and they struggled, and Gohda accidentally pushed Kanon out the window. Realizing he was going to get in so much trouble for this, he quietly locked the window, planted a stake in Jessica's wound, and walked off whistling.

While bored, Gohda decided to show off a new knife trick he learned to Nanjo and Kumasawa. Disaster occurred. Genji suggested they blame Kanon for it so nobody would find out, and dump the bodies somewhere.

Later in the evening, George and Shannon refused to believe Gohda's claim that he was capable of juggling three Stakes of Purgatory at the same time. Upset, Gohda offered to prove it to them in Natsuhi's room. Tragically, he was not as proficient as he thought he was.

Genji called Battler upstairs to tell him everything. Battler couldn't accept this ridiculous scenario, and declared that it was more likely that a witch did it.

* [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented! Furthermore, there is no indication that the family owns any "Tiny Food Bombs", much less keeps them where they could be accidentally mixed into anything.]] [[color:blue:Gohda accidentally grabbed poison instead of tiny bombs. Afterward, he and Rosa lifted one of the keys and snuck into the chapel to make it look like Beatrice did it, hoping like hell that nobody would look at the corpses too closely.]]** OBJECTION! [[color:red:Starting when Maria's key was received, and until the instant Rosa unsealed it the next day, it passed through no one's hands!!]] [[color:blue:someone on the island hid actual corpses of different people that looked like those who were murdered inside the chapel before everyone arrived on the island. then after killing those 6 people, hid their bodies away.]]

[[WMG: George is a killer]]In the first episode, he leads Maria to the exact spot of the dying rose and then gives her the idea of marking it so she can find it later. As a ''direct result'' of this Maria stays outside in the rain, meets 'Beatrice', and receives a letter that causes the fight over the inheritance to come out into the open. Maria also trusts him implicitly ("what George-oniichan says is always true"). He could easily manipulate her if he wanted to. He's also been trained in martial arts by Eva (herself not an exemplar of stability) and proved himself willing to sacrifice his entire family to get what he wants, and his lines to Shannon are more than a little creepy ("This is an order").

Plus he's way too normal for the Ushiromiya family.* if we are to trust battler's pov, he has the best alibi for most of the crimes (he either is with battler or dead most of the time). * While he ''does'' have an excellent alibi, this could be explained by him being the mastermind and teaming up with Shannon, whose status is uncertain and who can therefore be the killer. There is actually a ''lot'' of strength and thing to support this theory. Especially since at this point we're almost certain that there are multiple culprits and a different one in every game. Plus George seriously comes across as {{Yandere}} for Shannon sometimes.

[[WMG:The mastermind isn't even on the island at all]]Why bother coming up with a brilliant plan to eliminate the entire Ushiromiya clan at one shot and get all their money, and then ruin it by getting caught up in the bloodbath? Nahhh. Whoever the mastermind is, he or she is enjoying a nice drink and waiting for the whole mess to be over.* [[color:red:Knox's 1st! It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story! A person that was not first introduced in the]] [[color:blue:first]] [[color:red:game cannot be named as the culprit!]]** But it was never explicitly stated in red or in gold that the events of Rokkenjima follow Knox's decalog. Knox's decalog has been mentioned many times in red, but those are merely self-affirming truths. No one has ever said in red "Knox's rules are in effect!", just "Your theory goes against Knox's rules!". Which is true, but meaningless if Knox's rules aren't in effect. [[color:blue:The witches are clearly trolling us, and we have no proof that the Rokkenjima events follow Knox's rules.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:gold:Citing Knox's Decalogue is fair game until it is proven that the Decalogue doesn't apply to Beato's game.]]**** In that case, [[color:blue:Kawabata is the culprit.]]***** (Respondent here.) Who?****** The boat captain, apparently.******* (Respondent here.) [[color:red:He '''is''' the boat captain.]] I just noticed it before posting this.

[[WMG: Kinzo's running a secret cloning facility on Rokkenjima]]He certainly has the money and the insane tenacity to do it, and it would explain the whole myth of 'furniture' if they really were artifical humans. Beatrice and Jessica could be sisters, one an imperfect copy given to Krauss and Natsuhi, and one raised to be Kinzo's perfect woman.

[[WMG: Bernkastel is wrong - Beatrice's victory conditions do not include Battler acknowledging magic and witches]]Talk all you want about noise in explaining characters' actions, but everything Beatrice did after Ange appeared in the third arc - essentially rubbing Battler's nose in the fact that she tricked him after she had spent all that time trying to convince him that she reformed - goes beyond mere noise and into VillainBall self-destructiveness territory if that was really her aim. For god's sake, he had to be ridiculed three times in a row by her before he was finally convinced that she had tricked him. Chances are, if she had simply treated Ange as a lunatic - especially with how suspicious of her Battler proved to be later - she probably could have gotten him to sign. That's a heck of an opportunity squandered.* Highly considerable. Now that he's the Endless Sorcerer, he can argue that "while witches and magic definitely exist, they did not play a role in the murders" and still win without denying either his own or Beato's existence.

[[WMG: The money letters weren't intended to 'mock the dead']]They were an anonymous ''gift''. By someone who had already solved the epitaph and moved much of the gold to the mainland before the families arrived, or left it in place and used it as collateral for a loan (as Kinzo did). We know this because the money vault must have been planned weeks in advance, but the murders are wholly opportunistic. They must be. Barring a weather machine, ''the killer had no way of knowing Rokkenjima would be cut off in advance!''* By extension, the individual who writes in Maria's diary and writes the bottle letters must also be innocent.* Did it really matter if they knew the island would be cut off? They could have just been intending to cut the phone lines, so no one could call the police, and then kill everyone that night. The storm just worked in their favor.

[[WMG: White King to capture Black Witch in four moves: Checkmate]]The Black Witch was waiting for Kinzo when he arrived at Rokkenjima. The Black Witch blessed each of his heirs in the cradle. The Black Witch is never going to abandon the family until they are dead to the last man.

The Black Witch can't forgive the person she was yesterday -- forgiveness, in general, is not her thing.

The Black Witch is pretty interesting. Firstly, she's much cooler as a villain than the Golden Witch or the Candy-Goth Witch. Secondly, she's actually killable by ordinary anti-fantasy humans. Though for the Ushiromiya it might take a miracle.

(Or maybe MARIA, Witch Of Origins, comes zooming back and fights and defeats her with laser beams made of pure love, and all the people reading for the mystery/family drama elements curl up on the floor and die. Either way.)

The Black Witch was born -- the Ushiromiya started coming unglued -- on the day Kinzo married his late wife for prestige, rather than Beatrice for love. The magical gold is valueless without love.

The only way to 'win' is to reverse the split between ideals and forms, love and duty, Beatrice and Kinzo, the meta-universe and Rokkenjima. Merging Battler and Meta-Battler is the only way Meta-Battler can return to his family as he promised -- removing the contradictions between the two worlds is the only way to heal the wound of Beato's soul. The only way to answer her plea 'who am I?' And the only way to unmask the killer once and for all.

[[WMG: Battler never returned to Rokkenjima]]Hold onto your hats, because things are going to get cracky.

Battler and Maria are practically joined at the hip. Try and count the number of scenes with Battler where Maria isn't already present 'playing by herself', or doesn't appear partway through. Note how in the only arc where Maria doesn't live to the end of the ritual, Battler retreats to his room in the guesthouse and the plot focus shifts to the adults and Meta-Battler. Note how many dynamic and plot-relevant interactions his cousins have with one another, and how quickly his role collapses into passive observation.

Battler Ushiromiya? '''More like [[FightClub Bat-Tyler Durden]]!''' Battler's objective testimony is actually ''Maria's'' testimony! Battler is a figment of her imagination, a big-brother image she invented to protect her after the witch image turned sinister.

* By this, do we assume Ange was in on it, or that Battler was an ImaginaryFriend that Maria and Ange shared? You need to take her 1998 story into account.** Easy. Battler Ushiromiya is a real person, [[color:blue:but the person on the island is a joint ImaginaryFriend based on the real Battler]].*** (Respondent here.) Then where is the real Battler? Why isn't he on the island with the family? If Meta-Battler (now the Endless Sorcerer) is Maria, then who is MARIA, Witch Of Origins? Don't get me wrong, your "Joint ImaginaryFriend" theory has some ground, but, due to multiple scenes, a number of which are in [=EP5=], having the family interacting with Battler despite Maria being absent, said theory would have to extend beyond Maria and Ange and have the whole family in on it.**** (2nd respondent.) [[color:blue:He's dead. Maria refused to let go, and developed a SplitPersonality based on her memories of Battler, which we will call Battler-Prime, or B'. Meta-Battler is B', who shares a body with Maria, who is MARIA (each personality having its own magical form). B' sometimes "takes over" and sometimes manifests as an ImaginaryFriend, and when B' is in control the family recognizes that and acts accordingly. Maria's "death" was actually "Maria" witnessing something traumatic enough to drive her catatonic, so B' takes over when it can.]]

[[WMG: Beato is playing to lose]]Despite Lambda's rationalisations, Beato's meltdown at the end there felt pretty authentic. No ''surprise'': even an insensetive woman like herself must have picked up that absolutely everyone from her boss to her mentor to her [[strike:boy]]toy are gunning for her blood. But she can't lose too fast too soon, or Lambda punches her ticket to hell. Besides, as much as it terrifes her, she'll never know 'who am I?' if she can't expose herself to the light of truth.* Confirmed in [=EP5=], with this Red Truth by Virgilia(?): "[[color:red:Beato wanted you to solve it, so she made this game...the riddles of this tale...solvable.]]"

[[WMG: Beato has already lost]]She checkmated herself the moment she declared (and gloated!) about Kinzo's alive-or-dead status. Before then, she had the easiest job in the world: Can't you trust your own eyes? What kind of a crazy person denies what's happening right in front of them? But now ''everybody'' has to skeptically re-evaluate every scene they've witnessed. In effect there ''is'' no Anti-Mystery any more: only Anti-Fantasy and Anti-Fantasy-With-A-Witch.* [[color:blue: The scenes with Kinzo are all genuine, he is some kind of undead being and thus is not counted as a living human]]** [[color:red:Unless you are proposing that there is some kind of hypertech revivification technology present]] [[color:blue:(which would raise its own set of problems),]] [[color:red:a claim that Kinzo is undead in an Anti-Fantasy-Which-May-Or-May-Not-Contain-A-Witch is a self-contradicting position!]]*** (Respondent here.):[[color:red: That blue truth is meant to counter the claim that Beato lost when she declared Kinzo's alive-or-death status. In other words, it is meant to offer an explanation for all of the Kinzo scenes which doesn't require unreliable narrators. Thus, it is an Anti-Mystery theory.]]*** [[color:red:Ah, I see.]] Allow me to respond then: [[color:red:This story cannot require information not presented to explain. There is no evidence that Kinzo can be resurrected.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, any explaination of this story requiring Kinzo to be reanimated fails.]]**** [[color:blue: In that case Kinzo is a ghost.]] *** [[color:red:Plausible, given the old name of the island, ]][[color:blue:(and that will eventually be explained the way "Onigafuchi" did) but it's tenuous at best.]]

[[WMG:What's the plot device?]]''{{Higurashi}}'' had some plot devices that stretched the boundaries of science. ''Umineko'' warns us it's not following the rules of Fair Play ''in the opening credits''. So what're the candates here?* '''Hypnotism.''' A suspicious number of witnesses to supernatural events who are 'too confused' to go into details. A suspicious number of previously rational people who become True Believers as soon as they get out of Battler's sight. A trick that can modify a person's perceptions or memories.* '''Time/space nexus.''' Like the island from a popular television program, Rokkenjima sits at the crossing point for multiple parallel universes. Hence why characters can be alive, dead and absent simultaneously, why Kanon gets more screen time as a dead man than alive, how the killer can walk out of a locked room and murders can happen when every every named character has an alibi. The murder from arc X might have been perpetrated by the murderer from arc X+ 1. The mutually-contradictory message bottles are remnants of worlds that were 'collapsed' when the typhoon passed. Kinzo knew about the island's 'magical' properties, of course: he's depending on them for his one-in-a-quadrillion miracle to occur.* '''Demon possession'''[[hottip:* :(Keiichi had to be right eventually)]]'''.''' Rokkenjima's alluded-to previous reputation as Akujishima, ''island of soul-eating spectres''. 'Beatrice's' confusion as to her identity. The constantly-shifting roles of killer and victim. Ange deciding to avenge the tragic murders on Rokkenjima by... murdering seven people with stakes. Don't breathe the air at Rokkenjima: Beatrice might be catching.* '''Prophecy:'''Witches are created by the forces of Destiny to carry out the Epitaph. Stating anything that has not been determined in red text [[RetCon retcons]] it to [[SchrodingersGun something that is true for some intrepetation of all red text used so far]], and is itself a prophecy. Red text that would falsify all possible interpretations of the Epitaph or another red text cannot be spoken. Even if this isn't the case, it gives me a great idea for an RPG...

[[WMG:Kyrie killed Asumu]]You know, usually, when you hear about someone having died, especially when they're as key to a main character's backstory as Asumu is to Battler's, you usually hear more detail about how it happened. What exactly do we know about Asumu's death except that she died six years ago, prompting Battler to leave? Was she sick? Did she topple off a bridge? [[WomenInRefrigerators Get locked into her own fridge?]] The narrator's holding out on us. I think perhaps the wording "died" instead of "was killed" is supposed to imply that none of the main characters thinks it was murder, but that doesn't mean it wasn't. There are plenty of ways to kill people that make it look like an accident. We already know that Kyrie harbored a lot of resentment against Asumu - she certainly had long-term motive, even if we don't know what would actually trigger her to suddenly do it twelve years after Battler was born. Perhaps instead of cursing Asumu, as Kyrie suggests in the third arc, instead, she gave fate a little... push.* I read somewhere that Kyrie says that if Asumu hadn't died on her own, then [[MurderTheHypotenuse Kyrie would have killed her,]] [[{{Yandere}} just so she could have Rudolf.]]** That's in [=EP6=]. Assuming we can trust anything in a scene that has Jessica as a demon-possessed killer, Kyrie flat-out admitted it to her.

[[WMG:The burning of Kinzo's corpse is being conducted by Natsuhi/Krauss]]The people who would almost certainly know of Kinzo's death are Genji, Nanjo, Krauss + Natushi and potentially Shannon/Kanon. As evidenced by Episode 3, the death of all the servants doesn't stop Kinzo from ending up in the incinerator. And if Nanjo was on the one burning the corpse, then why is it burned in every episode except for EP.2 - where he survived to the end, as normal?

Taking these considerations into account, along with Natsuhi's acknowledgement of "taking care of Father" to Krauss in Episode 2 is almost certain evidence that they're responsible.

[[WMG:George and Shannon aren't lovers]]It may sound strange to question this premise, but consider that all of their romantic narration is marked by a lack of credibility, given that it happens outside Battler's narration and is rendered specious by the presence of magic and witches. Furthermore, ask yourselves the following question; why have George and Shannon never been the victims of the second twilight, in spite of being the most obvious pair of victims for it? Keep in mind that whether you're anti-fantasy or anti-mystery, the killer is attempting to follow the epitaph to make the murders (appear) occult and the fact that the most obvious choice has been overlooked 4 times in a row seems strange. * Has George ever admitted it directly to Battler? I know that Jessica has speculated about it to him, but I'm not sure whether he's actually said it. But if so, I wonder why George inquired about the ring in the first arc...** I don't believe he has; most of what Battler knows of their relationship is either an implied conclusion or conjecture. And with regards to George's inquiry of the ring, that can also be explained if we examine the scene closely - recall that no one apart from Hideyoshi and Kanon actually see "Shannon's" corpse in the shed and that the majority of the dialogue in the scene was that poignantly melodramatic exchange between Hideyoshi, George and Eva. In other words, Shannon was in collusion with the three of them to fake her death as part of an elaborate ruse. The fact that her corpse was identified allows her to be a loophole in the red regarding the first twilight of Episode 4.*** But in order to do that, all would have had to know that those murders were going to take place, right? And the murderer would have had to know to only kill five people instead of six. And so that makes it likely that one of them was the murderer that time.**** You're forgetting [[spoiler:Kinzo has already been long dead.]] This makes it far easier for someone in the original twilight to fake their death. Plus, if the theory about [[spoiler:Kanon being Shannon]] is true, then that would easily keep George's innocence while exposing Hideyoshi and Eva as accomplices, who were murdered shortly afterwards to hide their tracks. Was it ever said in red that the chain was still on the door when they were murdered?***** "''.......That's right, it was me. .......Last night, I proposed to her. That was when I gave her the ring. .....I told her that tomorrow, she should put it on whatever finger she wanted, as her answer. ...Haha, I sound so full of myself. ... So I handed her the engagement ring, and then, .....it was all over.''" -George, ''Legend of the Golden Witch''****** Is it in red? For all we know, she could be wearing a ring for some other reason.******* [[color:gold:The Red Truth rule had not been implemented when that occurred. The meta-world did not even exist yet at that point in time.]]******** Are you sure about that? In ep 4 (at least the Witch Hunt translation) they mention the first twilight of the first episode and comenting on the murders there and if the victims were realy dead or not since Beatrice hadn't used her red truth there (it's not said but probably as you said because it wasnät implimented there). This seems to indicate that the Metaworld actually existed in the first arc.

[[WMG:The shipwrecked person in the screnshots of Episode 5 is Natsuhi]]She has apparently no contact with her original family and is totally loyal to the Ushiromiyas. Maybe they saved her life?* Interesting theory, but sadly it is {{Jossed}}. The shipwrecked lady is Erika Furudo, an {{Expy}} of Rika from Higurashi.** That is not to say that the content is {{Jossed}}, though.*** (Respondent here.) That's true, but unless it's a separate incident, the shipwreck in question happened to Erika, not Natsuhi. Perhaps the Ushiromiyas '''did''' save Natsuhi, and perhaps Natsuhi '''was''' shipwrecked, but unless you can prove it wasn't Erika's shipwreck we were seeing, this WMG is {{Jossed}}.

[[WMG:Maria doesn't have a father - she HasTwoMommies, Rosa and Beatrice]]Rosa didn't want to marry and give up the family name, but she wanted a child. Either with or without her knowledge Beatrice heard this and gave her a child ala ''StarWars'' and Anakin, and Rosa was too freaked out by the sudden pregnancy to try to get help from anyone. She thought this was a blessing until Maria started acting strangely, so Maria is simultaneously a blessing and a curse to Rosa. It also gives Beatrice a shoe-in in the family to have Maria be there.

[[WMG:Both Bernkastel and Lambdadelta will lose]]Perhaps all Battler has to do is accept that Beatrice exists, but prove that she is not the person committing the murders. Mind you, if he proclaims that he believes too soon, it'll be his loss, so if such a scenario were to occur, it'd happen in the sixth game at the very earliest.* I, too, think that this is how Battler is going to end up winning.

[[WMG:Battler's and George's hypothesis about the first note from Beatrice is right.]]In the first arc, George and Battler suggest considering the note as a type of ransom - figure out the riddle of the gold, or everyone dies. After they suggest it, though, Nanjo shoots it down by asking why it wouldn't be simpler to simply interrogate Kinzo. The characters didn't know about Kinzo's condition at that point, and so that question basically ended that theory right there. However, now that we know that Kinzo's dead, it would not, in fact, be simpler to interrogate him. The note was sent all of a sudden at the reunion because that's when more people than just Krauss and Natsuhi would be there, allowing for more people who might know more things about Kinzo to answer. Of course, this theory would require the note-sender (and probable mastermind) to know that Kinzo was already dead, and so interrogating him would be a waste of time. Isn't that right, '''Kinzo's personal physician who shot down the theory in the first place'''?

[[WMG: The reason why Lambdadelta doesn't know what happened in [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]...]]...Is because Studio DEEN cut out almost every instance of Bernkastel appearing or being mentioned. The poems, the [=TIPs=], her birth... nada. This counts as an Anti-Fantasy stance -- or at least, an Anti-Witch stance, effectively 'warding' her off. She's currently struggling through the series, but that little detail, along with the AdaptationDecay and AdaptationExpansion, is subconsciously warding her off.* [[AceAttorney HOLD IT!!!]] Higurashi Rei. Final episode. After waking up, Rika mentions to Hanyuu that she (Rika) should return to being "Rika Furude" and stop being "the witch, Bernkastel."* This is also why Lambdadelta appears as a young girl, because when's the ''only time'' they actually show Bernkastel (outside of a certain {{Omake}})...? Bern's a LittleMissSnarker because that's how Lambdadelta percieves her. That, or she's {{Troll}}ing her.

[[WMG: Beatrice is powered by [[YourMindMakesItReal belief]]... including Battler's.]]Despite his denials, Battler ''does believe'' in Beatrice... on some level, he ''has'' to. He simply can't accept that somebody he cares about, whether a member of his own family or a devoted servant, is actually a cold-blooded killer. Hence his desperation to prove that there's a stranger on the island, an outsider to blame; in lieu of that, he uses Beatrice. Beactrice, who in his view of her, is a CompleteMonster, a heartless, sadistic ''witch'' who has torn his entire family away from him, rather than the magical savior Maria believes in.

In fact, most people on Rokkenjima believe she's more of a manipulative spirit than a benevolent one... therein lies the problem. Someone uses that legend and perception to their advantage; now, she's locked into character.

If Battler accepts that she exists as-is, then he's going to be tortured and toyed with forever. If he manages to completely reject that she exists, he'll wake up... alone. The sole survivor, forced to deal with harsh reality. If he keeps wavering back and forth, unable to decide, they'll be trapped in this deadlock forever.

The ''real'' condition for him to win, therefore, is to accept that Beatrice exists... and that she has been manipulated and influenced by sick, pessimistic minds. He must ''work together with her'' to transform her into a guardian spirit who can truly ''save'' the Ushiromiya... and, in the process, save herself as well.

They might have managed this during the third arc, but their efforts were being subverted -- a small part of him still couldn't let go of the image of her as a manipulative monster, and that was leading towards disaster. ''This'' is why, once Ange-Beatrice showed up, Beatrice latched onto the VillainBall for dear life, desperately trying to convince Battler "Yes, ''YES'', I'm evil, I tricked you, ''now for MY SAKE get pissed at me and '''FIGHT'''!''" She has to be fully accepted by him, ''and fully'' ''[[LoveRedeems redeemed]]''.

* Therefore, Bernkastel may actually be assisting them in a cold, calcuated, manipulative way. ''Somebody'' has to seem much, much worse than Beatrice, after all... Virgilia could be in on it, too.* So would that make Ange-Beatrice a complete figment of Battler's subconscious?** Maybe not. Ange-Beatrice was born from Ange's desire to see her brother again, Battler's desire to see his sister again, and Bernkastel's manipulations. (The PlotRelevantAgeUp and BrotherSisterIncest [[{{Squick}} implications]], however, may be mainly because Battler is a bit of an egocentric lech who unconciously took his sister's devotion a ''biiiiit'' too far. His interests sort of explain the Stakes and the Siestas, when you think about it...) She's all about getting Battler motivated via emotional gut punch -- and when he finds out who's [[TheManBehindTheMan the Witch behind the Witch]] who got her ''involved''...*** Okay then, let me just prod a bit more - if Ange-Beatrice isn't a figment of Battler's subconscious, then the fact that she showed up when she did in order to pop his happy bubble seems to be a bit of a strike of luck for his subconscious, giving him an opportunity to portray Beatrice once again as a manipulative sadist. What on earth would have happened if she hadn't shown up?*** As mentioned, his subconcious was working against him -- on some level, he ''didn't fully trust Beatrice''. He was going along with it because everyone seemed so ''happy'' and was headed for a Good End in the Golden Land, but at the same time, he wasn't fully convinced... just coasting along trying to ignore that nagging sense that something wasn't quite right. He still thought she was a manipulative sadist, but was trying to pretend otherwise because he felt SympathyForTheDevil. If he had signed, it would've been his loss, Evil!Beatrice would've 'shown her TrueColors', and it'd be a very BAD END for all involved.

[[WMG:Meta-Battler is, himself, a witch, or, "madan," to make it gender appropriate]]Many seem to be convinced at this point that meta-Battler isn't the same person as Battler. Similarly, Bernkastel is not the same person as Furude Rika, Eva-Beatrice is not the same person as Eva, and Ange-Beatrice isn't the same person as Ange. The unifying thing about those three witches is that they were born out of the characters they represent's determination to achieve something or another against their fate. So if meta-Battler and Battler aren't the same, then what's the point of meta-Battler? Is he not an embodiment of Battler's own determination to change his own fate of having himself and his family killed by a witch (Whether you focus on his denial of witches, which negates the second part, or think he's having some sort of breakdown, which negates the first part, that goal should encompass both)? In which case, even though he lacks a super-fancy outfit, would that not likely make him a witch in his own right?\\So why can't he use magic too? Because magic is powered by not just determination, but faith and belief as well. Battler is automatically denying himself the use of magic by denying the existance of witches in his duel with Beatrice. In order to be able to use the magic to change his fate, Battler will ultimately have to accept their existance, though not necessarily their involvement in the murders that have taken place. Until then, he will be dueling both Beatrice and fate with one figurative hand tied behind his back.* Does Battler becoming the Endless Sorcerer at the end of [=EP5=] count?

[[WMG: In the [[AdaptationDecay anime]], Lambdadelta is pretending to be Maria.]]At least for the first arc. She's secretly replaced her and is slaughtering everyone else, setting up the chessboard for her 'endless game'. That way, Battler can never prove that "[[DoingInTheWizard A witch didn't do it]]" and will be stuck there forever. But she's not very good at ''acting'' human, hence the apparent {{Flanderization}} and all the wild and crazy expressions.* Interesting. Would explain why she's a fucking psycho in [=EP1=].

[[WMG: Nanjo is the new [[spoiler:[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Takano]]]]]]Seriously, they even carry similar(ish) expressions. Plus, they both seem relatively inconspicuous at first, until the later chapters show conflicts with their testimonies and such.

And they're both medical practitioners, of course.* There's a WMG below that says Nanjo was involved in [=EP3=]'s murders. This would go so well with it.* The biggest problem that I can see is that it's much less likely that one can fake their deaths on the island, so unless you can come up with an explanation for why he only survived the 9 twilights once, he can't be the only one. Then there was the explicit statement referring to Episode 1, wherein it was stated in red that "Nanjo is not a murderer", so at the very least, he didn't kill anyone during Episode 1.** Except that she's using just his last name. Usually, either first names or both names are used. However, Nanjo has a son who could serve as an easy escape hatch on this. It should be clarified to "Terumasa Nanjo is not a murderer."

[[WMG: Prior to his sin, Battler was Beatrice's apprentice.]]In other words, he was just like Maria once: not only did he faithfully believe in magic, he wanted to be a witch (or warlock, or madan), so he became Beatrice's apprentice. He trusted her completely, certain that he had nothing to fear -- Beatrice would make everything better. Or help him ''make'' things better. Even as he grew older and was supposed to 'outgrow such silly superstitions', he still believed in Beatrice.

Then something horrible happened. Maybe Asumu grew ill and passed away, even though Battler pleaded with Beatrice to save her. Maybe his relationship with Asumu wasn't that great and he cursed her before her death. (This could've been accidental: maybe he heard his parents fighting and cursed the 'other woman', the one who ''wasn't'' his mother... and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero whoops]]!) Whatever the case, he took out his anger on Beatrice, blaming her for everything and declaring her an evil, heartless witch.

He may even have been the one who originally taught Maria that Beatrice was a good witch before having his falling out with Beato six years ago. He could even have gone on a rant in front of his impressionable cousin afterwards, disavowing Beatrice as evil and horrible and scarring poor little Maria's mind, skewing her pure-hearted belief in the Golden Witch towards a more [[TheFairFolk old-school fairies mindset]].* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice.]]** There's more than one Battler and more than one Beatrice. That statement could easily refer to original!Battler or Virgilia, the predecessor Beatrice.** [[color:blue:Battler's sin was cursing Asumu, which, while not a sin between Battler and Beatrice, led directly to their falling-out.]]*** (1st respondent here.) [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] Show me evidence that Battler's sin was against Asumu, and that her death contributed to Battler denying Beato, and I will promote that Blue Truth to Red Truth**** [[color:blue:battler's sin occurred the same year Asumu died/Rudolf married Kyere/and Battler ran away from home to marry his grandparents. i propose that this is sufficient evidence to prove the two are related!]]

[[WMG: Battler's sin is that he broke a ChildhoodMarriagePromise to Beatrice.]] As a child, his mind and heart were open to Beatrice, and he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. So he promised her that he'd marry her when he grew up. And Beatrice took him at his word, because a pure-hearted and innocent love like his would surely dispel the possessive, jealous love that chained her to Rokkenjima.

...Then he had his falling out with the family and left, abandoning her. Six years later, he comes waltzing back to the island and is a total lech who acts like she doesn't even exist. [[WomanScorned No wonder she's pissed.]]* Considering the type of "Embarrassing things" Shannon recalls Battler saying, Battler seems like a regular KidAnova, or at least, [[TheLeisureSuitLarry tried to be]]. It wouldn't surprise [[DarknessLord This Troper]] if he made such promises to a lot of people and Beato was the only one who took him seriously.* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Ushiromiya Battler and Beatrice.]]** [[color:blue:The sin is ''no longer'' between Battler and Beatrice, now that he's starting to keep the promise. They just need to wrap things up, and people will stop dying.]]*** [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented! The above Red Truth states that Battler's sin was not against "Beatrice", therefore, it was against someone else]], [[color:blue:and this person that Battler sinned against is the culprit behind the murders in all of the stories.]] [[color:red:Battler Ushiromiya has a sin. Because of [Battler's] sin, people die. Due to [Battler's] sin, a great many humans on this island die. No one escapes, all die.]]*** Which Battler and which Beatrice was [=EP04=] Beato talking about anyway?

[[WMG: In the first arc, Eva knows more about the first twilight than she lets on]]A lot of Eva's behavior in the first arc is suspicious. Not of murder, but perhaps about knowing something about what would happen, similar to Rudolf. Two aspects make me wonder what she knew. First, her leaving the meeting early with Hideyoshi. Eva always wants to get a really strong upper hand, especially on matters concerning the inheritance. And we've seen the fact that she has incredible determination to get what she wants It's fishy that she would leave the negotiations so early just because she was tired, as her alibi implies. If she left the meeting early, it would make sense that something tipped her off that something bad would happen if she stayed. Second of all was her "prank" on Natsuhi. It's an incredibly pointless "prank." Doesn't cause any discomfort to Natsuhi or anything. At the same time, it isn't incredibly incriminating of her, given that we are forced to rely on her word that the receipt was shoved in the door in the first place. If she had been a murderer, it would have been much better to find a way that could have had a dramatic [[TheReveal reveal]] to all the other guests. This leads me to think that her motivation for doing that, assuming she actually did do it, was out of early suspicion of Natsuhi - suspicion even before the first twilight victims were revealed. Sort of like thinking, "Oh god, um, what do I have on hand? Ah! A receipt!" Her point was to confirm something to herself first and to figure out how to convince everyone else second.* When Kyrie suggests in the fourth episode that Kinzo is already dead, the others all seem to suspect it as well. Eva could well have been using the receipt because she suspected Kinzo was dead. If no murders had occurred, while not ironclad evidence, it would have raised sufficient doubt that Krauss and Natsuhi would have been obliged to prove Kinzo was alive if they could. When the six bodies turned up and Kinzo went missing, it must have instead seemed like evidence that Natsuhi was responsible for both.

[[WMG: If Bernkastel is Anti-Fantasied, the events of Higurashi would not happen.]]In order to survive Takano, the cast had to know what was going on. They had to be told, and this was through the Rika (Bernkastel) connection. There was no "rational" way for them to have that information. If Bernkastel loses, then the one "good end" dimension of Higurashi will not have happened. And it would be through the will of man, which surpasses gods.* Bernkastel is not Rika. And the actual link (at least in the anime; I don't know about the games) is Hanyuu.** But there '''HAS''' to be a connection between Bern and Rika, since they look so much alike.*** It's implied in the games that Rika was Bernkastel's "piece" on the game board.

[[WMG: Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are [[ChekhovsGunman less real than they seem]].]]Think about it. Way back in the first arc, Battler mentioned reading a book called [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]] right after the first twilight, I believe. And when Beatrice stared him in the face, he had to stop the idea that magic exists, but at the same time, he still had the hope that there was good magic out there, and Rika could apparently use magic. So what's stopping Battler from thinking those two up to help him? However, after he was betrayed by Beatrice, his perception of witches was forever tainted, and those two became flat-out nastier as a result of that. The only reason Ange didn't also become evil was because she had rejected magic, and so didn't really count as a witch.

[[WMG:The newest unnamed character is either a variation of Bernkastel or Maria.]]The newest character seen in the opening credits of Chiru has a mix of Bernkastel's and Maria's looks for one thing. Also, some of the servants have witch-counterparts, so why can't Maria? After all, Maria knows the most about witches and things of the occult, so it wouldn't be too weird if the newest character was born out of Maria's knowledge or desire for witches to be real. In the case of it being a variation of Bernkastel, think about the relationship between Bernkastel and Rika--the former is merely a collection of Rika's memories and past lives, so it wouldn't be too unusual if this new character turned out to be a creation from Bernkastel's memories or some other part of Bernkastel (possibly emotions?).* But doesn't Maria already have MARIA, the Witch Of Origins?** Don't forget this new character has [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]]. My guess is it's Bernkastel's game piece, just like Beato's in Chapter 2 and 4. I'm more curious as to the name, which will probably be Frederica, but she could very well become known as [[spoiler:Furude Rika]]* ..Yet another theory proved right. And I can't help but wonder- is Bernkastel basing [[spoiler: Erika Furudo]] on who she "used" to be?

[[WMG:Gaap is actually Kanon, not Shannon]]Or at the very least they get their socks from the same place (as does Lamdadelta).* Jokes aside, them being the same person does make sense, given that there's no demon mirroring Kanon.** You all forgot that ther's some kind of Meta-Kanon and Meta-Shanon in [=EP2=]. And it's also suggested that they remember previous games. Go figure. This troper thinks they mirror themeself. And remember that Siestas didn't have a possible vessel when they first appeared, Gaap might be the same.

[[WMG:Battler betrayed Asumu]]Here's what we know: Battler committed some sort of sin six years ago that did not involve Beatrice. The big thing that we know happened six years ago was Asumu's death, and Battler leaving to live with his maternal grandparents. It's pretty likely that the sin had something to do with that incident. At the same time, we know that Asumu is not Battler's biological mother. Battler apparently did not know that until the fourth arc. '''Apparently.'''

Now, let me postulate this - what if he actually found out earlier? Like, say, six years ago? What if he found out that, as the theory goes, Kyrie is his actual mother? Somehow (Maybe through the scheming that Kyrie claims Asumu did), Battler was used as a pawn for Asumu to get to Rudolf? How? Maybe through blackmail to Kyrie? "Give me your son or I let Rudolf know that you ________." She would have to be quite the schemer to outsmart Kyrie, but let's assume for a moment that she did.

And let's say that Battler's relationship with her isn't all it's cracked up to be (I know that the whole leaving thing would imply otherwise, but I'll get to that). Maybe at that time, he did something he would later come to regret, such as giving someone some information that Asumu didn't want known, or even (it actually works better this way) killing Asumu himself. Then, it hits him what he's done. "Oh my god, I just killed my mother." Because even if they didn't have a good relationship, that sort of thing is still pretty traumatic.

Then, what's the next thing he thinks? "I can't let anyone know. I've got to get out of here." And so he uses Rudolf remarrying to Kyrie so quickly as an excuse and gets out the first chance he has to go live with his grandparents. Or maybe Rudolf finds out and stages the entire fight over his remarriage in order to get Battler out of there. Maybe he stages it like that himself because Battler is so traumatized over what happened that he's practically in a ConvenientComa. When he finally does get himself together, he has TraumaInducedAmnesia and is raised with a new story of what happened that day. Which explains why he finds all of this so shocking and why he wipes himself out when he finds out.

Eh, this one might need something like [[HatePlague Hinamizawa Syndrome]] in order to work, but it's a heck of a conspiracy theory!* (In regards to the Hinamizawa Syndrome statement only) [[color:red:Knox's 4th! It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard-to-understand scientific devices to be used!]]** [[color:red:Hinamizawa Syndrome is neither a drug nor a scientific device,]] [[color:gold:but it will not be showing up again.]] [[color:blue:This does not, however, rule out the possibility that Kyrie is a master of the HannibalLecture and set up the entire thing.]] [[color:red:However, Battler has not killed anyone. The closest he could have possibly managed (to the extent of our knowledge) is [[DrivenToSuicide pushing Asumu past the]] DespairEventHorizon.]]*** (Respondent here.) Whoa, back up. Where was it said that Asumu committed suicide? All we know is she died, and, according to a line by Kyrie, not [[{{Yandere}} at the hand of Kyrie herself.]]**** (2nd respondent here.) Where was it said that she didn't? All we know is that [[color:red:Battler hasn't killed anyone]], [[color:blue:but until this WMG is {{Jossed}}, we do not know that he has not caused anyone's death. Fine distinctions and all that.]]***** (Respondent here.) Hmph, plausible. [[color:blue:I propose that Asumu died of natural causes, and was not killed by anyone's hand, be it [[{{Yandere}} Kyrie's]], [[MurderTheHypotenuse Rudolf's]], [[DespairEventHorizon Battler's]], or [[DrivenToSuicide her own]]!]]****** (OP here) Kihihihihi, you've got to admit, it's certainly an interesting piece of information for Ryukishi to have... forgotten to elaborate thus far. And yeah, this theory's been {{Jossed}} in part for a while now. [[color:red:The Hinamizawa Syndrome line was really just me implying that the theory's farfetched]], but let's wait and see where it goes. I'm still expecting there to be some sort of complication about her death we haven't heard about yet.

[[WMG: Kinzo is [[MyOwnGrampa Battler]].]] He was supposedly about Battler's age when he first met Beatrice, and "miraculously" brought the Ushiromiya Family BackFromTheBrink. What easier way to create a miracle than knowing everything in advance?!* I once thought this, too, but Kinzo has six toes on each foot, and as far as we know, Battler doesn't.* Dude could have fifty toes down there. Schroedinger's loafer.* Both became mad magicians after Beato died. Both made a new Beato and tried to turn her into the one they wanted. Both became the unexpected successor to their family fortune (Episode 5 anyway). Both have no real talent for magic and have insane amounts of magic resistance.

[[WMG: Kinzo is Maria.]]The eccentricity, the occult fascination, the ''Beatrice'' fascination... it all fits! Maria is a homonculus Kinzo transmigrated his soul into to cheat death. Maria don't have an absentee father -- she has no father at all! Heaven help the family the day she "remembers who she was".* I seriously doubt this. Sorry, but it will take more than that to convince me.

[[WMG: The Gold represents Love(The Story will end when the entire Family can get along).]]Higurashi is generally considered to be about atonement and, by extension, forgiveness. That loop ended when everyone was forgiven.

Umineko follows a similar pattern, but clearly has a different theme. That theme is likely love, therefore when the family starts loving each other, instead of bickering, the family will receive their good end. Thoughts?* Then, uh, I might be taking this too literally, but when Eva found the gold and promptly went psycho...?* Could be that I'm wrong because I haven't played the games and have less information then some, or perhaps she couldn't acknowledge the truth for some reason? I could also be wrong about what the gold represents but right about how the series ends, because I was basing the part about the gold on the first arc's epitaph, where it said that finding the gold would stop the collection of the interest on her payment or whatever.** Decided to Make the heading to this particular guess a tiny bit clearer, maybe.

[[WMG: The butterflies are responsible for the typhoon]]Think about it.Golden butterflies that can change the weather and are commanded by a single powerful entity... [[{{DiscWorld}} Sounds familiar...]]

And now we not only have an idea where the Meta-World is located (Death's Domain), but we also know what Beatrice's methods are and why she uses them (she's using headology, which relies on belief, to gain power). This would make Bernkastel and Lambdadelta The Auditors.

[[WMG: The typhoon causes a landslide at the end of every game]]This appears to happen in every game, and explains several mysteries:

In Episode 1, this is what kills the cousins in the end, and does so in a way that makes finding bodies extremely difficult.

In Episode 2, this is what Rosa and Maria are running from in the final scene. If you watch the entire banquet scene with this in mind (and assuming the UnreliableNarrator bases scenes on reality), it makes a lot of sense.

In Episode 3, Eva survives the landslide by being in the hidden mansion at the time (although this is only confirmed in Episode 4)

In Episode 4, this explains quite a few things, and is indeed quite strongly hinted. The reason the police could find no evidence, and closed the case as an accident? Well, if the mansion and the surrounding areas were flattened by a huge landslide they would be unlikely to find any bodies, and thus no evidence of any homicides!

Again in Episode 4, when Ange travels to Rokkenjima, she could not reach the mansion due to what appeared to be a landslide.In game this is said to have possibly occured over the years since the original events occured, but...

Finally in Episode 4 again, the "final challenge" put to Battler regarding who killed him in the end, despite no other humans being left? The landslide did it.* Then why is there a murder mystery at all (Wasn't the case referred to as the 'Rokkenjima Mass Murder Incident' or something of the sort)? Wouldn't the police chalk up all of the deaths to the landslide? After all, it would have had to be pretty obvious right after the fact if Ange could have noticed it twelve years after.** Probably because of the "note" in a bottle (stated to be more like a novel) that describes what happened at the island. The police probably declared it straight away as an accident, but the finding of the notes in the bottle (seen at the end of Episode 1, confirmed again in Episode 4) probably started a large amount of media speculation. Interestingly enought, Episode 4 mentions that there were more than one, each totally different, and that the writer of the TIPS section in the visual novels is implied to be the writer of these notes...** It's not like ALL the bodies were lost in the landslide. They probably managed to find some, but not all. (It's said in the game, actually...)and while some could be damaged by the landslide, you could probably say by the rest that there was a murder. (no, Kinzo was trying to make some burgers and burned himself by accident, cool story bro. or maybe it was a burning landslide of fire? after all due to devil's proof we can't say there's no volcano somewhere in the garden!) And, damn, it would have to be one huge landslide to destroy the whole mansion. It's not like they were living under mount everest. Also, the lost bodies usually die by the portrait or in the garden, suggesting there's something wrong with this specific area. I believe it's one of the best theories so far.**** What's so far-fetched about it being a burger accident? [[TheSims Sims]] kill themselves while making burgers all the time! What if the entire adventure is just a Sims game that Maxis thought was too questionable to be released? Admit it, you didn't think of that possibility. Everything occurs on an island because until recently, you couldn't move sims off their property! All of the witches are friends who managed to get their hands on an unreleased copy! Meta-Battler is a glitch in the program! The entire series is just a giant commentary on the sadism of players of TheSims! I think I just cracked the code!*** A landslide could destroy the entire mansion, if the mansion isn't under it but on top of it... Remember they have to go up stairs to get to the mansion. Enough digging underground to create the tunnel to Kuwadorian, plus 30 years of typhoons, plus a freeze-unfreeze cycle in winter, and the ground underneath loosens enough to send the whole mansion tumbling right into the sea.

* (Possibly?) contradicted by Episode 6. In the TIPS at the end of [=EP6=], a "Rokkenjima Explosion Incident" is mentioned (in Human Erika Furudo's "dead" text)

[[WMG:At the end of [=EP4=], We have all been fooled by a simple play of words.]]We all remember that epic red text.

"[[color:red:My name is Ushiromiya Battler. It was from Ushiromiya Asumu that Ushiromiya Battler was born. It was from Ushiromiya]], ......, ......nguh, ............?! ......?!?! [[color:red:I am Ushiromiya Battler. It was from Ushiro]]miya Asumu that, ah, ngagh, ......nnnggghh......!!!"

"[[color:red:You are not Ushiromiya Asumu's son!]]"

Apparently, this MindScrew fuel has given birth to many theories, including Battler secretly beeing Kyrie's son. Nearly everone believes that in fact there were originally two Battlers. Except this troper, who shall present the following theory:

It is true that Kyrie had a miscarriage. There was born only one Ushiromiya Battler - Asumu's son. However, Battler was not born from Asumu.

How come? We already know that Meta-Battler and Game-Board Battler aren't the same person. He actually pulls the same trick as Rika - splitting into a real-world and witch/meta self. Thus, he couldn't repeat it in red because it was adressed to the wrong person.

"It was from Ushiromiya Battler that BATTLER was born."

This should be the statement. So the truth can be THIS simple. Pukukukukuku...!

...unless it got {{Jossed}}/[[IKnewIt confirmed]] in [=EP5=] already, and i just didn't get as far in the game yet. * But didn't he manage to say in red in [=EP4=] that Ange was his sister? How did he do that, in that case?** But isn't she still his sister as long as they both are Rudolf's kids? Plus, we can go by the theory that she's his sister as long as he considers her one. Same goes for Asumu - he could say "Asumu is my mom" in red, because it's a different thing from "beeing born from her". There are actually things morer dagerous for my theory, like [[spoiler:Rudolf wanting to talk to Battler "about his birth" (?? this troper fails at moonspeak, so she may have got things wrong.) in [=EP5=]]]. Then again, the fact that Kyrie and Battler don't seem to know anything bugs this troper a lot.

[[WMG:Kanon's real name is Kagu.]]He keeps on saying "boku wa ''kagu'' des", meaning "I am just furniture" or I am Kagu. Others think that he has a furniture complex, but he's actually correcting them when they call his name.* [=EP6=] confirms that his real name is "Yoshiya".* But wouldn't it make his name Kagon? XD** Probably, probably not. Who knows?

[[WMG:Amakusa is the baby that Natsuhi wanted to adopt]]Beato stated that it would have taken a miracle for the servant and the baby to have survived falling off the cliff. Who's to say Bernkastel didn't do her thing? We never get a confirmation on his age. Maybe he's 31 and is just [[OlderThanTheyLook older than he looks?]]

[[WMG:Amakusa is related to Kyrie]]Kasumi says that she was forced to marry Kyrie's fiance after Kyrie ran off with Rudolf. Since Japanese law states that a husband and wife must share a surname, I'm assuming the name "Sumadera" is from her husband. Maybe Kyrie's maiden name is Amakusa? I mean, those three are the only humans with white hair that aren't old.* Japanese law might say that husbands and wives must share a surname, but it's not unusual for a man to take his wife's family name upon marriage, especially if the wife's family is wealthy and of higher status than his (which sounds likely with the Sumaderas) and if there is no son to carry on the family name in the wife's family. Kyrie's never mentioned anything about a brother, has she?

[[WMG:Battler may or may not [[MyOwnGrampa be Kinzo]], but meta-Battler is Goldsmith]]We don't know much about Goldsmith at this time. What we do know is that he is able to summon Beatrice's furniture - Virgilia, Ronove, Gaap, and the Siestas. The only one Battler isn't allied with right now is the Siestas, but they've always been kind of odd as far as furniture goes, and seemed to be closer affiliated with Maria than Beatrice. Wanna bet they'll switch sides again and join Battler in the end? Here are some other thoughts: He'll choose the name Goldsmith based on Kinzo's nickname. Kinzo was a mere Anglophile and never actually had any real magic power. And if anyone's noticed what this means, I'm perfectly aware. I think eventually, Battler's going to have to go up against [[FaceHeelTurn meta-Battler]], who will eventually be turned toward trying to revive Beatrice at all costs.* Technically speaking, Siestas are furniture of Mariage Sorceriee, so they already are on Battler's side, he just has to summon them. As for the theory itself, it's interesting, and possible, but it goes against the 07th Knox Rule, and it's overdone in general - just doesn't sound like Ryuukishi to me. Than again, nobody said that Goldsmith is the killer... If we are to view it from anti-fantasy side, all he did so far was just firing magic lazors and pretending he killed everybody with magic in [=EP4=]. Might as well be the same as Beato. But then again Battler being Goldsmith wouldn't change much in that case.

[[WMG: The reason Beatrice's personality changes every game is because she reflects a different culprit each time]]The magic characters are reflections of the human characters. This is a pretty basic assumption, but let's develop it a bit further. That Ronove and Virgilia are equivalent to Genji and Kumasawa is pretty obvious by the later games, but who does Beatrice represent? The murderer? If so, then at least some of her capriciousness should be due to the different culprits in every game (assuming not everything is organized by a single mastermind, that is).

And as a further corollary, if this is true it should be possible to guess who the human culprit is in a particular chapter by seeing whose dialogue best matches up with Beatrice. For example, in Episode 5, Hideyoshi brings up the Three Kingdoms, a motif repeatedly taken up again later by Beatrice and her minions... * Than, it would mean there is no culprit in [=EP5=]. Or rather, "culprit" in this theory only refers to the killer after the first twilight. But it's actually possible there is a separate culprit for the firts twilight, so it's not a problem.** In support of this, Dialogue in later Episodes hints at the culprit in a previous one. For instance, when MARIA tortured Rosa, she (Rosa, that is) started sounding very much like Beatrice in Turn/beginning of Banquet. My guess is that Rosa was the "Mastermind" of Turn, and started in Banquet, but had a change of heart/admitted killing the servants to Eva, who killed her, and of course just eliminated Maria as a witness.*** "Beginning of Banquet" suggests that Beatrice doesn't represent her at the end of Banquet, though. So does Beato switch who she represents there, or does she represent no one after the beginning? Or is it some third option?**** I just said, Rosa is the culprit for the Second Game, and the First Twilight of the Third Game. Beato then represents the guilt Eva feels.** Another hint perhaps is Kyrie's referencing the "North Wind And The Sun" story in the first arc. That may be a hint that she was the third arc's murderer for the first twilight.

[[WMG: Natsuhi is related to the [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Furude]] family]][[spoiler: She says that her Shinto priest family gave her to the Ushiromiya family as a "gift". And hell, we've already got a million Higurashi references, why not not another? Plus, it'd explain her hallucinations of Kinzo. She's so distraught that she's succumbed to Hinamizawa Syndrome!]]* One game she will invite 'cousin Rika' to the family conference, and Erika will freak out.* ...Wait, given that that means she had to have been in Hinamizawa at some point, and given the FridgeLogic of Meakashi/ Watanagashi... oh dear lord NO!** Don't worry if she's related to the Furude family she's probally immune to Hinamizawa Syndrome just like Rika.* Interesting. We never did find out what Natsuhi's maiden name was, did we? This could be right, but it's too soon to say.

[[WMG: Battler will deny Bernkastel]]In order to take the game back from the Voyager witches, Battler needs to take the fight directly to them. Fighting them on the gameboard isn't enough anymore, as he can only attack their pawn, Erika.

Here's what will happen: Battler and his furniture will fight against Bernkastel, Lambdadelta, Erika, and their furniture in the sea of kakera. At one point, Battler will question Bernkastel's credibility, which will then lead to an all out denial of her existence. Being a Voyager-level witch, this takes a tremendous amount of effort, more than enough to deny Beatrice, but eventually she is crippled by their arguments and in a terrible state. Just before the final blow is dealt, though, Lambdadelta steps in and cuts them a deal: Battler and crew stop denying Bernkastel's existence, and Lamdadelta will no longer allow her to interfere with the game, nor will she intervene in any way herself. This is eventually considered fair, and the board is restored before the final game is set up.

If nothing else, there needs to be a kakera fight at some point.* Can Battler do that? The one time he was in the sea of kakera, wasn't it due to Bernkastel's magic? Even if Battler could, how could Ronove et al?** Well, he did read a book called "Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni". Maybe he'll remember that and could create a problem for Bern by saying [[color:red: Someone named Bernkastel is in a book of fiction called Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni!]] [[color:blue:You just happened to read it and thought it'd be a great idea to dress up like her!]] . And that's just a furniture-level argument.** Didn't he slip into the sea of kakera again during [=EP5=] TeaParty ?? And he seemed to do it on his own. Also, voyager witches obviously can bring others into the sea, so if Battler could drag himself there, he can as well take his crew with him. Plus, This Troper doesn't think they need to leave the kakera to begin with...

[[WMG: Maria is the only witch in Umineko.]]It's been suggested that Maria is a creator witch, so why couldn't she create other witches?* Possible evidence: In the manga, Maria's notebook has drawings of Beatrice (not too surprising), but also of Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, [[http://www.onemanga.com/Umineko_no_Naku_Koro_ni/4/16/ well before they appeared in the story]].

[[WMG: Seven Parents, Seven Stakes]]There are seven Stakes of Purgatory. There are also seven parents on the island. Now, the stakes (but not the girls) exist in anti-fantasy, so someone has to have each stake coming in. I'm thinking the parents either have them coming on the boat, or get them quickly on the island. Following their attitudes: Krauss has Sloth, Natsuhi has Pride, Eva has Greed, Hideyoshi has Gluttony, Rudolf has Lust, Kyrie has Envy, and Rosa has Wrath.

This probably wouldn't help with finding the killer (kill the parent, take the stake), and each of them having the exact stake would be more of an ass-pull and push it back into fantasy.* Or: Krauss is Greed, Natsuhi is Sloth, and Eva is Pride.* While I wouldn't be surprised if I got Natsuhi or Eva wrong, I'd be surprised if Krauss wasn't Sloth. It has been said (at TheOtherWiki, so grain of salt and all that) that "He is an investor, but is unable to carry his plans out to the end, resulting in failures." That strikes me as Sloth. Of course, it could be a smokescreen anyway.* I have a similar idea, but with a difference:In order of rank, it suddenly becomes much clearer. Lucifer tries to assert herself as the oldest, but ends up tormented by the younger ones(That sure sucks, eh, KRAUSS?). Leviathan of envy(Do I really need to spell it out?) Satan of wrath(I think it was said Rudolf had a temper...) Belphegor of Sloth(Rosa is seen as a little bit "easygoing" with regards to family affairs...) Mammon of Greed(George? A bit odd, but it works. The more likely suspect would be Battler, since Ange gets along so well with Mammon.) Beelzebub of Gluttony(Jessica, since maybe wanting Kanon is asking for too much), Asmodeus of Lust(Maria, possibly. Or Ange? Thinking about the "Kid" stakes, maybe a few of them share Stake space...).** In that case, Jessica might be Lust, not Gluttony. Gluttony usually has to do with over-consumption, rather than too much desire. Desire tends to fall into Lust and Envy. Not sure if that helps. Hope so.* Well, if we take Battler out of the running, it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Going by the stakes' personalities and not by what they're supposed to represent, Gluttony fits Jessica for the most part. Plus, Gaap said in [=EP5=] that she was Jessica's mother, or at least Natsuhi imagined it, explaining the drill hair.

[[WMG: Umineko = CodeGeass]]Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place entirely in the universe of Code Geass. This would explain the names being mostly European even though the series takes place in Japan (excuse me, Area 11). That's really about it. I mean look at the costumes, they look Britannian.* Both involve immortal witches who are served by a man who proclaims himself to be a demon and invoke chess symbolism.* [[color:red:In the CodeGeass universe, Japan was not occupied until the Twenty-first century.]] Also, in [=EP1=] there is reference to the KoreanWar. [[color:red: If The Royal family of the Britannian Empire fled to America, The KoreanWar sure as hell wouldn't have occured, as the attack on Pearl Harbor never happened.]] (The Japanese would have had no reason to attack Pearl Harbor, as Britannia would've already been involved in WorldWarII if there was one at all, there would have been no reason to try and prevent America (which doesn't exist here.) from entering the war!) [[color:red: No Pearl Harbor, No [=MacArthur=]. No [=MacArthur=], no KoreanWar. No KoreanWar, no war funds. No war funds, no fortune. No fortune, NO PLOT!]]** You forgot to add that [[color:red:the American Revolutio[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAmericanRevolution n]] never happened, either.]]** [[color:red:The fact that TheKoreanWar as we know it did not occur does not mean that there ''couldn't'' be a war in Korea involving Britannia.]] [[color:blue:If such a war took place, it would still be called the Korean War, because]] [[CaptainObvious it would be a war taking place in Korea.]]

[[WMG: We see things the way Beatrice wants us to see them.]]The premise of the series is that the murders could be caused by magic or mundane tools. So why all the blatantly supernatural stuff? Beatrice is somehow able to manipulate the viewer (and, presumably, Battler) into viewing only her version of events in order to confuse everyone into submission. We can be certain that the murders are happening and of the causes of death (e.g., Dr. Nanjo and Kumasawa getting their throats slit in the second arc), but everything else is suspect.** As someone who's played the game, yeah, that's pretty much how it works. If Battler didn't view it and it's not a red truth, don't trust it - there are even some scenes not viewed by Battler where no supernatural stuff occurs, but it is later revealed to be fake.*** I thought he was seeing the whole thing going on. Does he only see the scenes where he pops up to argue with Beatrice?**** Available evidence suggests that Meta-Battler doesn't see everything the 'camera' sees. (For example, he had to ask questions about Jessica & Kanon's death in the second arc, which the viewer had clearly seen.)**** Meta-Battler sees everything that the Battler on Rokkenjima sees, but there's a lot that Battler misses out on, ultimately.***** No, he sees every single thing we see. He asked questions about Jessica's and Kanon's deaths because he believed that's not how they really died (since he doesn't believe in magic), thus he wants Beato to confirm some things with her Red. ****** Evidence supports he does see everything we see in [=EP3=]. After the magical Beato vs. Virgilia fight he becomes distraught again because he doesn't know how to counter it, which is when Virgilia steps in and provides him (and us) with the Schrodinger's Box perspective. He has to ask for specifics on certain incidents because it's all still being seen exactly how we see it...tinted by Beato's magic-colored glasses.

[[WMG: The note that Jessica found was actually meant for Battler.]]Battler follows a line of reasoning in the fifth arc that ends with the idea that he is the biggest target of the murderer's, since he is the only character who makes it to the final twilight every time. Well, if we follow that line of reasoning, then the taunting note Jessica found in Beatrice's room in the second arc was probably also intended primarily for his consumption too. After all, although it didn't address anyone in particular, by discussing "your parents," there were only three people who it would have made sense for it to have been primarily addressed to - Jessica, Battler, and George. However, of the three, Battler's personality tends to be the most hot-headed, and it would have made sense for the writer of the note to have expected him to be the one to run out of the chapel and burst into Beatrice's room, not Jessica.

[[WMG: Umineko and Higurashi are all pieces of one giant puzzle]]Look at the format of the games/anime. As you play/watch through them, you learn more and more about the characters and what's going on until, at the very end, you put all the pieces together to solve the mystery. As the episodes/chapters are to the games/anime, so are the games/anime to the whole series. Higurashi, the first arc, introduced us to the set up: time loops and bizzare/inexplicable murders, with an overarching sense of horror. Umineko starts to explain the reasons for the repeating loops by introducing the witches. Presuming people keep buying/watching the stuff, 07th Expansion will keep on making them until we can put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Naturally, there will be four or eight games/anime in total. The end result will either be mindblowingly awesome or mindblowingly terrible, depending on how well the whole thing turns out, but either way everyone will come away with a massive headache from the sheer complexity of the thing.* So if it takes Ryukishi five years to finish a series, and he's going to do four or eight of them, that means the franchise will continue for twenty to forty years?** Perhaps it'd be easier if we went according to the numbers. Higurashi is When They Cry, and Kai is 2. That'd make Umineko 3 and Chiru 4. Does it still work this way?*** Yes, they do. Look at the cover of [=EP5=]. It says "When They Cry 4" after "Welcome to Rokkenjima" under the title (in kanji). [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091213081053/umineko/images/d/d1/Uminekoep5l.jpg Here's a pic of [=EP5=]'s cover.]]

[[WMG:Beatrice is [[spoiler:the seagulls]]]]And just like in [[LegendOfZelda Link's Awakening]], Meta-Battler will wake up after a crazy dream, hear the cries of the seagulls... Only to dismiss it as nothing.* Who would play the Wind Fish that soars over Link's head at the end?

[[WMG:The number of people on the island is different then suggested.]]Beatrice keeps saying the number of people who are on the island in red, but since she doesn't consider furniture as people...* [[color:red:Furniture count as people!]]* [[color:red:Beato doesn't include herself in the number of people on the island.]] [[color:blue:Thus she does not consider witches to be people.]] [[color:red:Beato considers Maria to be a witch.]][[color:blue:Thus, Maria is not counted among the people on the island.]]** I was going to discount that claim with the Red Truth that "[[color:red:There are no more than 17 people in the island of Rokkenjima]]" until I read it over again. In the nick of time, I guess, to switch over and say [[color:red:it's plausible]]. It says there are no more than 17, but not that there were no '''less'' than 17, meaning they can be at least one short (Maria is the Witch Of Origins, and is thus not counted) and still satisfy the Red Truth.*** [[color:red:Beato is not strictly "alive".]] [[color:blue:All her not counting herself means is that she doesn't consider meta-entities people, nor any "pieces" they might have that have no reason to be on the island from an Anti-Fantasy perspective.]]

[[WMG:The story isn't a mystery.]]One of Dine's commandments states that there "must not be a love interest". Normally, I would think that I was being silly and looking at things from a shipper's point of view, but even if Battler doesn't reciprocate her feelings, Beato certainly seems to like him. The feeling doesn't have to be mutual for a love interest to become a love interest. Therefore, that rule has been broken, and the story can no longer be referred to as a mystery. If we say that the commandments simply don't apply, then it still can't be referred to as a mystery. Therefore, it is not a mystery-- but that doesn't necessarily confirm the existence of witches. What does this leave us with? Anti-Fantasy With A Witch and Pro-Fantasy With A Witch?* But what if the supposed "Attraction" is just a mother loving her son? Beato would be about Eva's age in 1986, assuming Rosa just mistook her for dead, similar to most of the corpses in [=EP5=]. Maybe she survived, had Battler, and Kinzo just handed him out to whoever would take him as their "Grandson". Natsuhi didn't want him, Kinzo just sent him off to Asumu, and she just happened to want Battler because she had a miscarriage. The reason Beato didn't want to say that in red was because she didn't want to hurt Battler any more.** Beatrice seems to have a sexual attraction to him, it doesn't really look like mother's love, does it? Just remember the balcony scene from [=EP4=] - sorry, but the things she says don't sound very motherly.*** She's crazy. Simple as that.* Dine commandmets were never mentioned in the game so far, and they don't really define what a mystery is. Most of them are basically extended Knox rules, and the 3rd one wasn't the only one broken there. (16th for example.) * If you want to look at it from another angle, Red Text is really screwy and relies on ExactWords and FromACertainPointOfView. In [=EP5=], [[spoiler:Dlanor starts spouting Knox commandments like crazy to counter some of Battler's arguments, but she never says 'This is a mystery that obeys the Knox commandments.' in red. Unless Battler can get that confirmation, Erika can keep using Mystery to make up whatever truth seems most convinient. ]] This is VERY heavily implied in the part of the Anti-Fantasy vs. Anti-Mystery TIPS where it seems as if Beatrice is mocking the reader for thinking that she's "playing fair". Taken further, the murders are being made to look like a genuine Mystery and a Fantasy by the real culprit. Only the dual blades of red Anti-Mystery and blue Anti-Fantasy can destroy the sick game on Rokkenjima and free Battler.* Long before then, the rule that states "No supernatural occurrences must figure into the mystery" would have been broken the moment the Meta-World was introduced, yet it is still treated as a mystery. That's because events in the Meta-World do not directly impact the mystery in the real world, so Beatrice and Battler's relationship can be seen as existing outside the actual mystery.* You're all forgetting something. [[color:red:There are mysteries that obey neither Knox's nor Dine's rules.]]

[[WMG:Beatrice is the personification of Maria's rose]]I mean, come on, why else would a sadist be represented by glowing [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth butterflies]]?

[[WMG:Battler's sin corresponds to one of the Seven Deadly Sins]]And if all the shipteasing in the Stakes Valentines' Day is any indication, it's [[spoiler:pride]]

[[WMG: Love is what motivates the killer]]"[[ArcWords Without love, it cannot be seen]]". In other words, without love, you can't see the truth about why the murders are happening. And if the murders are happening [[spoiler:because of Battler's "sin"]], there's a good bet that the killer is motivated by their love for Battler. LoveMakesYouEvil, after all. This cuts the suspect list down a bit. The suspect is someone who we know loves Battler or someone who might love him (romantic or otherwise): Rudolf, Kyrie, [[KissingCousins Jessica]], Shannon, or Kanon (assuming he's a SweetPollyOliver).* Or Kanon is gay and/or doing it on behalf of Shannon's love so Onee-san doesn't get her own hands or conscience dirty.** Well, at one point in EP 5, Battler ''does'' admit that [[spoiler:he sometimes goes out with other guys and that his first love was "that sort of thing."]]. So maybe the Shkanon theory isn't dead yet.*** That must have been a mistranslation, because in the official translation, it is never mentioned that he [[spoiler:went out with other guys]]. "That sort of thing" referred to him never confessing his love for his first crush.

[[WMG: The Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy thing is just a red herring.]]The definition given for anti-fantasy is that magic, witches, etc. don't exist, the definition of anti-mystery is that there is not enough evidence given to solve the problem is given.

If we take an anti-fantasy stance then we have to deny the red truth and then we don't have enough evidence to solve the murders. If we take an anti-mystery stance then we have to assume we don't have enough evidence to solve the murders, but magic has known rules and we'd be able to solve the crimes with those. In other words, any anti-fantasy stance is also an anti-mystery stance and vice-versa.

* We are also told that to see the truth, you need to see it from both standpoints.

[[WMG: Battler is Gay, or at least Bi]]->"''I've gone out with guys before; my first love was that sort of thing, ihihihihihi!''"

So it's pretty much a confirmed fact that Battler is at the very least bisexual, if not a full on queer-o-secksual. The obvious implication of this is that his fondling of breasts is all an ACT due to heteronormative society, supported by the fact that most of his targets are, you know, his cousins, and has said that if a girl ever actually let him go that far, he'd scold her. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; think about what this could mean for the events of Rokkenjima as a whole. He's also claimed Shannon was his first crush, so either that was a lie or Shkannon is correct, and Meta-Battler knows this. This could mean that Battler's "sin" was Denying his homosexual urges and feelings, and thus pushing them onto "Shannon", effectively denying his relationship with Kanon (Don't tell me there wasn't this total vibe with the fertilizer scene).

So with this, we can easily imagine Kanon being the killer, due to butthurt [[spoiler: over lack of actual butthurt, hur hur]], and so the only way Battler can actually prevent the murders and save everyone is to acknowledge his real feelings and emotions, and Come out of the closet. So then, we can presume that Meta-World is a sort of Freudian dream, then, as everything that happens is effectively pushing him to reveal the truth he himself suppressed. Beatrice? Well, like Kinzo's, she's a personification of Battler's "ideal woman", [[spoiler: Except he doesn't actually have one. He just copied Grandpa Kinzo's interests so that he had something to fall back on when asked what he was attracted to. It's the CanadianGirlfriend excuse.]] Beatrice knows this, and being the part of him that wants Battler to find out the truth, wants to die, as that's the ultimate result of dispelling his self-deception. Beatrice, like magic, is just a delusion created to hide the wounds of the heart. It's already very clear as of Episode 4 that this isn't a battle between Reason and Magic, but a battle between naive idealism versus the cruel, undesired reality.

Battler must accept who he really is, and find out it's Okay to be gay!

* So does he have the best or worst ComingOutStory ever?

[[WMG: Amakusa shot Kasumi Sumadera and her men]]In [=EP5=] Battler states in red, that there are always two side of one truth. While in Ange's point of view Kasumi was killed with magic despite circumstances, which should make this even for a witch impossible in a human's point of view she and her men was snipped by Amakusa, whose TIPs even state that he was trained as counter sniper! Too bad, he failed to save Ange from getting shot.* Or he shot Ange on purpose.** [=EP6=]'s Tea Party has Amakusa talking on the phone with Okonogi, and a rather strong implication that Amakusa has got a sniper rifle, and has been ordered to finish off Kasumi and her goons at Rokkenjima...AND kill Ange as her attitude makes her a liability. (Puzzlingly, Okonogi says it's "For world peace".)

[[WMG: The Pony Theory]]The pony theory is based on 12 year old Battler, and Beato (disguised as Shannon, who wasn't present that day) meeting him. Battler manages to impress Beato to the point that she falls for him, and promises that he'll come back on a white horse (THAT GODDAMN PONY) to take her away. Beato looks foward to this the next year that Battler comes with his family so that she can escape servitude on Rokkenjima, but Battler never comes. 6 years later, Battler finally returns, having completely forgotten his promise. This is the root of his sin, and why the tragedies on Rokkenjima take place...there's some image that describes it much better, but I'm not bothering to find it.* [[http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7820/1251670168057.jpg This what you're looking for?]]* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice.]]** This could be referring to Beatrice, the ''title'', not Beatrice the ''person''. Virgilia's appearence makes it clear that [[color:red:'Beatrice' is only a title]] in this case. So while Battler's sin was not against "Beatrice", [[color:blue:it might have been against her ''before'' she was Beatrice.]]*** (2nd respondent here.)[[hottip:* :I posted that Red Truth about Battler's sin not being against 'Beatrice']] Interesting theory. Promoted to Blue Truth for plausibility. However, [[color:blue:I propose that the 'Beatrice' mentioned in that Red Truth was referring to anyone who has ever taken that name, thus it can apply to Beato, Virgilia, even Future Ange and possibly EVA. By this, it can be said that 'Battler Ushiromiya' did not sin against any of these, or anyone else to have ever taken the name 'Beatrice'.]]**** Red truth is not necessarily true from every possible perspective. [[strike:You're thinking of gold truth.]] [[color:blue:Unless Battler sinned against every single person who has ever been named Beatrice, the sentence ']][[color:red:the sin I am now demanding you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice]][[color:blue:' could still be said in red.]]***** (2nd respondent here.) Pay attention. I was '''proposing''' that it referred to anyone known by the name 'Beatrice'. I wasn't stating that it actually did. Furthermore, [[color:red:anything said in Gold can be said in Red, but not always vice versa.]]

[[WMG: One or more of the characters has a DeathNote.]]This is all but confirmed in Umineko Hell; who's to say it might not apply to canon? Hell, maybe Beatrice herself has been controlling the deaths through the Death Note all along and is only making Battler ''think'' magic might be the cause because she's afraid of what would happen if the note fell into the hands of Battler.

[[WMG: We can't trust the red or gold.]]I'm surprised nobody's brought this up yet. Consider this: I can grab a piece of paper and say "Anything written on this paper is true." then write "I am a Chinese rebel." When somebody points out that I'm lying, I can write "Anything written on this paper is true." But that doesn't make it so. This came to me when Battler accused Beatrice of lying in the red and she used the red to state "Everything stated in red is true." Now some people might maintain that Ronove and others use and insist on the legitimacy of the red. Well getting back to the paper scenario, I could quite easily get a bunch of my friends to act out what I write on the paper and insist that it works. So with everyone convinced the thing works and Beatrice (possibly the only one who knows it's all bull) gone, nobody wants to risk lying with it because they're afraid of vanishing in a poof of logic. It's like selling your soul to the devil just to see if you'll go to hell, even if the writers of the Bible lied... do you really want to take the chance?* Except you explicitly can't say untrue things in red. Anyone who tried to force a red statement with an untrue statement choked before they finished. So it doesn't work like that.** There's a couple reasons we know that the red truth is telling the truth. Episode 5 ultimately shows that [[spoiler: Beatrice wants Battler to solve the mystery]] so there's no reason to lie and make up random things. Furthermore, the author has also stated in interviews that it is possible to solve the mystery after Episode 4, something which would frankly be completely impossible without them due to the large number of fake scenes.

[[WMG: Battler was named after the Tarot Motif for the Magician "Le Bateleur"]]because i can't find any justification to as why Ryuukishi would name his Protagonist "Battler". He is a bumbling idiot which would fit some of him to the tarot... so yeah.

[[WMG: Bernkastel created Lambdadelta]]Bernkastel is more or less explained - she's the amalgam of [[spoiler: every Rika who died, barring the 'successful' one]]. This meshes well with that line from Higurashi Rei, where she said she'd stop being the witch - so when that one [[spoiler: died]], she wasn't added to the mix. You can imagine Bernkastel finding herself alone in the countless kakera, finding her torment to be over for some reason. Wondering if she beat her adversary, or if they just got bored. Well, she's a great witch, so her tormentor can't have been a mere mortal - it must have been another witch! And she can just barely recall the face of [[spoiler: Miyo]]...so Bernkastel's own pride gave birth to her 'witch' tormentor.* [[NoJustNo No.]] It's the other way around. Lambdadelta looks more like the young Takano from the epilogue scene. There's an extra TIPS passage that is Lambdadelta's diary. She existed long before the events of Hinamizawa, being very fickle about her magic. She would only let mortals use her Magic of Certainty if they possessed enough of a drive to accomplish their goals. It functioned so that as long as you were determined, you could never fail. She ran across Takano as a little girl, and Takano wished to become like a God. Lambda granted this wish, and went on her merry way. When Takano grew up, she was able to fulfill her goals with the help of the Magic of Certainty. Hanyuu used her powers to transfer Rika across the Sea of Kakera every time she died in order to try and stop the destruction of her town from occurring. The remnants of Rika that didn't make it (anger, cynicism, and hate) formed together among the Sea and formed Bernkastel. Lambda discovered Bern and decided to imprison her because she apparently fell in love with her the minute they met.** Yes, but how do we know we can take Lambda's testimony on this seriously? She might have fabricated memories to go with the story. After all, it's highly suspicious that she looks just like Takano, and yet has no more connection to her beyond granting a wish.** Because everyone who knows Lambda has said that she has been around for a very long time. Bern was trapped by Lambda. She wouldn't force something like that upon herself, and only escaped due to a miracle. When Lambda was brought into the Rokkenjima game (or at least found), Bern wasn't too happy about that.** That proves nothing. Has anyone ever said in the red that Lambda has been around for a long time? They say Bernkastel is over 1000 years old, so the timeline doesn't serve as an argument either. Bern, whom was formerly an aspect of Furude Rika's, was trapped by the inevitability of her situation, created by the will of Takano, escaping with her miracle. It was after this when Bernkastel personified fate as a witch like herself: Lambdadelta is retconned into the universe.** Another bit supporting this theory would be that we know that it was [[spoiler:Hanyu]] not lambda that was behind [[spoiler:the time-loop/parallel world traveling in Higurashi]], so it is unlikely that it could really have been "Lambda's game" the way it is referred to in Umineko.*** [[color:red: While it is [[spoiler:Hanyuu (and do we really need to spoil this?)]] who allowed for the game in Higurashi to happen, it was Lambda's piece who caused the events of the game.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Higurashi can be called "Lambda's game".]]

[[WMG: Red Truth is subjective truth]]It's been stated a few times that truth can be different depending on the observer. Maybe red truth is for things that the speaker believes without a doubt to be true. No one could make a claim to Battler's heritage, because they were so uncertain about it.* Battler believed, without a doubt, that his heritage was what he thought it was. It was only until the Red Truth failed to work for it that he doubted it at all. Not only that, but the Red Truth is something that is absolutely, undeniably true.** It's really an issue with the choice of words.

[[WMG: The Red Truth denies the ability to use magic to do things!]]Many times, Beatrice has said 'this must be done a certain way' in red truth. However, she then says in white text, that magic can bypass such a thing. For instance "This door can be opened only by a key" is red truth. But as a white text. "I could have used magic." However...[[strike:RED TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH!]] As such, this door could NOT be opened by magic!* You're forgetting, the Red Truth is subjective, only true FromACertainPointOfView. [[color:red:The Red Truths you're referring to regard the physical means of opening the door. Therefore, the idea of using magic to open the door has not been denied by the Red Truth!]]* While a door may only be opened with a key, Beato could lift a key off someone with magic, duplicate and subsequently destroy other keys, alter a key to a different door to fit this lock...

[[WMG: Beatrice and Kinzo are going to be married in that chapel]]If it has not occurred in current episodes, that is, it will happen...either at the end, when Beatrice and Kinzo become 'good'...or earlier. If it happens earlier, things will get VERY BAD.* Looks more like Beato and Battler currently, unless something changes. Rumor is Beato marries Battler near the end.

[[WMG: The phones actually worked all through the first arc]]All through the first three arcs, the phones and radio were supposedly cut. But the only ones who witnessed that firsthand were Genji and Kanon, who informed everyone else. In the first arc in particular, whoever called from the final twilights had to use the phone. That was one of the mysteries - why the phones had stopped working and now were all of a sudden working again. But in the fourth arc, the phones worked the entire time. It's possible that Genji and Kanon were in on the murders and simply told everyone that the phones weren't working. In other words, the reason the phones were working at the end of the first arc is simply because they had always been working.* Not quite. In Episode 4, we learn that the phones will work if you wish to call someone else on the island, but according to Genji and Kanon, they won't work if you try to call someone not on the island like the police. Consequently, if this holds in all 4 episodes, then the culprit of the final murders can call Battler's group without making Genji and Kanon liars.** Actually, in the first arc, Genji and Kanon also say the extension phone line (the one that can call the other phones on the island) is broken as well. This is why Genji goes directly to Natsuhi first thing in the morning rather than calling, which due to Genji's personality he would most certainly also do. However it's possible that this was also a lie and that the extension phones were working all along, and only the outside lines were cut for real - both in [=EP1=] and [=EP4=], an attempt to call the police IS made (in [=EP1=] it's after Natsuhi gets the creepy call from Maria and knows the inside line is working, but she still can't get through to the outside; in [=EP4=], before he calls Jessica, Krauss attempts to call the police, to no avail).

[[WMG: The beginning riddle of the epitaph points the way to a memorial for Beatrice.]]Soon after Human Beatrice, died, Kinzo turned part the mansion Kuwadorian into a memorial for his dead lover. The beginning of the epitaph points the way to this location, and the rest points out where inside it the gold is (assuming there is gold there).* Lift up the sacrifices chosen by the key: There are six keys that must be used to unlock something. These keys cannot be retrieved.* Tear apart the two who are close: Two people must go separate ways to open the next lock.* Praise my name: There is a further puzzle hidden past this point. The only way to open it somehow involves praising Kinzo.* Gouge the (insert body part) and kill: A series of traps, maybe?* The witch will revive, and none will survive: A particularly nasty trap, somehow involving a likeness of Beatrice.* The journey will end, and you will reach the village of gold: Self-explanatory.* All the gold: Ditto.* Revival of lost love: The two who went separate ways are reunited.* Revival of those slain: Anyone killed can be interred with Beatrice.* The witch will sleep forever: Beatrice is dead, and the tomb will seal once the gold is removed.

[[WMG: Kanon did die in Jessica's room in the second arc, but not physically.]]Kanon shed his identity as furniture (and the name Kanon) in her room. In other words, "Kanon" died, but "Yoshiya" survived.

[[WMG: The person who carried out the first twilight of the third arc was either Krauss or Natsuhi.]]The third arc is the only one where Kinzo was used as a sacrifice in the first twilight. He was found burnt to death, just like in the first arc, but unlike the second. Now that we have relatively confirmed that whenever Natsuhi or Krauss survives (but not when they die and Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo aurvive), his body is found burnt to destroy evidence of his earlier death. Whoever carried out the first twilights had to know that Kinzo was already dead (so they didn't kill a seventh person) and had to be willing to take the opportunity to dispose of Kinzo. We can infer that Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo aren't, due to the second arc. Krauss and Natsuhi appear to be the only ones who match.* Assuming that the adults were really in the conference room all night, (and this troper is inclined to believe so) there is absolutely no way that any one or even two of the adults could have committed those murders. As all of the adults were in the conference room all night, the only way any one of them could have committed the murders was to leave the room for an extensive period of time that would have been at least half an hour. However, the behaviors of the adults in the morning after seem to show that they do not suspect any of themselves, which they would have had Natsuhi or Krauss been gone for a hour or so on the night six people were killed.Furthermore, Episode 5 reveals that all the servants on the island with the exception of Gohda knew of Kinzo's death, so Nanjo also could have done it. (Though this troper is inclined to suspect George for those murders).

[[WMG: Furniture's clothing reflects their job.]]Think of badges on a military uniform--it's used to identify what part of the army a soldier belongs to, what his rank is, etc. Furniture's clothing serves the same purpose. Servant-type furniture (e.g., Ronove, Shannon, and Kanon) are expected to cover up, while soldier-types are supposed to wear much less, hence the reason why all of the killer furniture dress like strippers. Yes, I realize than Shannon, Kanon, and Ronove have offensive and/or defensive capabilities, but it's clear that under normal circumstances, their main job is to serve tea and whatnot, rather than killing people.

[[WMG: People in the Ushiromiya Family are prone to suffering [[SplitPersonality Disassociative Identity Disorder]].]]A SplitPersonality might be a way to get around some of the limitations imposed by the Red Text. If Battler suffers from [[SplitPersonality Disassociative Identity Disorder]], it could solve [=EP4=] last mystery.* It also counts for Natsuhi's conversations with Kinzo, Eva having no recollection of some of the events in [=EP3=], not to mention seeing her high school self asking why she doesn't just give up and die, Rosa being the best mom ever, et al.** [[color:red:This is plausible]], especially on Rosa's part. [[color:blue:The other self that abuses Maria is called the Black Witch, hence why Maria refers to Rosa's violent outbursts as "being possessed by the Black Witch".]]

[[WMG:Shannon is Beatrice.]]I'm surprised nobody pointed that out, as in that Shannon is the Beatrice in Eps 2 and 4 - just look at the tattoo on her leg.

Battler was drunk in Ep2, so it's pretty easy to mistake Shannon as Beatrice as long as there's a slight disguise, and he was in the rain in Ep4, so he can't possibly see Shannon's face that clearly, so it could be Shannon masquerading as Beatrice in the Balcony scene for all we know.

[[WMG:Umineko is actually a romance!]]That explains everything. Kihihihihi.* Possible hint from the first game:->'''Kyrie:'''"Fufufu, can great detectives deduce the emotions and feelings between men and women? They can't, right? Figuring out the feelings of the opposite sex is an even more advanced art than exposing the tricks in difficult crime cases. If you ask me, romance novels have much deeper mysteries than masterpiece mystery novels."

[[WMG:Battler is a restless spirit]]At the end of EP 1, despite being marked as missing, Battler has died along with the rest of his cousins. They all meet up in a place that is introduced, through the subtitles, as Purgatorio. Everybody else seems quite content with saying a witch did it, but Battler calls it a bunch of crap and wants to know what really happened. Beatrice enters, Battler challenges her, they fight it out. After this, the Purgatorio heading is never shown again, and the fans call what they play their games in the Meta-World.

Thing is, he IS in Purgatorio, better known as Purgatory, because he refuses to pass on until he knows the truth. There are the Seven Sisters of Purgatory, who we meet in EP 2, that cleanse people of their sins. Virgilia appears when he's confounded at the start of EP 3, which is obviously based on Virgil, Dante's guide through Purgatory from the DivineComedy, where Beatrice's name also comes from. Then there's Ange, who is speculated to have died at the end of EP 4's flashback to her time on Rokkenjima. She is also a restless spirit, and wants to be reunited with Battler, so she enters Purgatorio to meet him and help him solve the mystery; of equal importance is Lamdadelta revealing to her that even if she helps him solve the mystery, the Ange that reunites with Battler won't be her. The entire time, Spirit-Battler is trying to find out the murderer and give his family a happy ending. If he accomplishes this, he will be at peace, and finally enter heaven.

This, and:* Dante: Short for Durante, which means "enduring" or "lasting"* To endure, one suffers hardships and is implied to overcome them at the end* To overcome something, one must defeat or conquer something.* To defeat something is "to overcome in a contest, election, ''battle'', etc."* One who battles would be called a battler* The protagonist is named Battler[[hottip:* :(Somebody else already followed this line of logic and announced it, but I don't have the exact wording)]], and meets with Beatrice, Virgil(ia), and representations of the SevenDeadlySinsalong with the presence of furniture in the form of demons from Hell [[spoiler:except for the case of the Eiserne Jungfrau, who are supposedly from Heaven]] and people who go missing are "chewed apart by demons and sent to Hell" strongly hints, at least to this troper, that he's been DeadAllAlong and needs to be at peace before the game will truly end.** The manga suggests this might be true, though it might just be Beato [[MindScrew messing with Battler's head.]]

[[WMG:There is a subway system underneath Rokkenjima]]While I can't say how or why Kinzo had his own train, quite a few rules could be circumvented if there was an underground subway station connection to one of the other islands in the Izu archipelago or the mainland.The people who have gone missing are abducted and put on a train, possibly to be killed elsewhere.[[color:red:"There are no more than seventeen people on this island"]] was lowered from eighteen when it was declared Kinzo was dead. A train car full of fresh {{Mooks}}, possibly dressed as goat-headed butlers, was waiting ''underneath'' the island to fill in for the non-living persons and stake people.

Also, [[http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2456/eatfresh.png guess what's inside]] [[http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3088/undergroundrailroad.png the arc.nsa file?]] [[hottip:* :Yes, I know subway can also refer to a short tunnel designed for walking, but considering how often semantics are argued in this game, I think it's worth considering.]]* Finally, [[http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/84/destinationtroll.jpg here's exactly how the fourth game ended.]]** [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome That was fucking awesome.]] [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny I laughed my ass off.]]

[[WMG:Some of the twilights in EP 1 were a conspiracy to mislead the culprit]]The servants and Nanjo found Eva's body somewhere other than in her bedroom, and then went to the bedroom and found it unlocked, with Hideyoshi dead inside. They realized that the murderer was following the epitaph, so they tried to [[XanatosGambit psych out the culprit]] by making it look like another murderer was on the loose. They moved Eva's body into the room, painted the magic circle on the door with red paint, and staked both of the corpses to make it look ritualistic. Then they left a letter from "Beatrice" for the third twilight, and burned and staked Kinzo's corpse for the fourth. For the fifth twilight, Nanjo, Kanon, and Kumasawa hatched a plan to [[FakingTheDead fake Kanon's death]] using another stake and the red paint for blood so he could hunt the murderer. Once the planning and setup was complete, Genji went back to the parlor and [[UnreliableNarrator lied to the other survivors]] that Eva and Hideyoshi had been found in a locked room in order to kick off the deception.

This totally circumvents the issue of the chain on Eva's door and explains why Eva's corpse still had shoes on, the appearance of all magic elements, and the burning of Kinzo's corpse. It also evades the mess of red surrounding Kanon's supposed death.

[[WMG: Shannon is the real mastermind behind everything. Because she's in love with BATTLER.]]This theory is a hearty combination of the Shkannon theory, the Pony Theory and the George and Shannon are not in love theory.

The culprits can be others manipulated by Shannon, but I have a feeling that Shannon's gonna be Umineko's Takano. She's just waaaay too 'innocent', and she almost always 'dies' near the beginning. I believe that she's actually not in love with George, but George is the one with an obsessive love towards her like Kinzo is towards Beatrice. Thus, Shannon feels a strong link between herself and Beatrice. Have you ever noticed how George and Shannon were never chosen as sacrifices for the second twilight? Ever noticed how Battler never sees Shannon talk about her love for George, only George to Shannon? Shannon fell in love with Battler 6 years ago, because of that "white horse" line. Thus, in Episode 2, when Shannon apparently keeps hoping that George would 'save her', she was actually wishing for Battler to save her (on a white horse). And Eva actually didn't object to George's feelings for Shannon. She wanted George to be happy, and was annoyed when Shannon shows dislike for George, and what she whispered to Shannon was actually about how she doesn't have a choice whether to marry George or not. That turned Shannon twisted. Thus, she remembers her strong link with Beatrice, and wishes to make herself known as the new "Beatrice" of Rokkenjima.

In Episode 1, she first kills the 5 adults and fakes her own death, also returning to key to throw suspicion on the remaining servants. She escapes the storage house as she might've conspired with Natsuhi. She then captures Kanon and locks him up in the boiler room and takes his place (her breasts are fake). She might've conspired with Gohda, who hid under Eva and Hideyoshi's bed and killed them there. Shannon as Kanon drew the magic circle on the door and slotted the letter, and pretended to go get the wirecutter and told Genji it appeared only after she came back from getting the wirecutter.

When Kanon (Shannon) and Kumasawa went to the boiler room and heard a slam, Kanon (Shannon) immediately ran there, knowing that it could very well be the real Kanon escaping. She goes there and kills him for real before fleeing into the courtyard, which is why the door was left open. She hides in Kinzo's study and puts the letter there when no one was watching, and kills the people who were chased out. When the rest were questioning Maria, Shannon sends a letter in secret to Natsuhi, probably with some more conditions of their alliance, which for some reason outrages her, causing her to go out and confront Shannon. Gohda and Shannon, however, overwhelm her. At the very end, when the children are confronting Beatrice, Shannon reveals herself and kills the kids. What she did to threaten Battler later was unknown, but she might or might not have killed him as well.

I'll post the Shannon=culprit theory about the other episodes later. * It's child's play to discount that red. The red said, [[color:red: The identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed. No body double tricks were possible.]] Sure, but if ''there isn't a body there to begin with'' then there's no unidentified corpse, and no need for a body double trick. The only people who saw Shannon's body were Kanon and Hideyoshi, both of whom she could have convinced to go along with it. When the murders continued; Eva, Hideyoshi, and Kanon were the next three victims, if Shannon was the culprit in the first arc and they covered up her continued well-being then she has a very noticeable motive in killing them before continuing the murders, because she would be the first suspect any of them would think of when someone turned up dead while everyone else had alibis.** Actually, this is not eve needed. "[[color:red: The identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed. No body double tricks were possible]]" can be ignored even if there ''is'' a "corpse" there. After all, it was never said that they were dead nor have anyone came back to chek if the bodys were still there, thus it is possible Shannon just pretended being dead and going out latter. She would need an accomplice to open the shutter for her, tough. Probably Kanon or even George (see below).

[[WMG: Shannon is the real mastermind behind everything and George]]Related to above. Only that George is Shannon's accomplice. She convinced him that the only way to them get married is to exterminating the Ushiromiya family. She natturaly killed him herself latter.

[[WMG: Kanon isn't Shannon, but he is [[SamusIsAGirl a girl.]]]]Kanon is relatively feminine, and despite being old enough to have hit puberty, he's still voiced a girl in the anime. She is dressing as a boy because she was [[RapeAsBackstory sexually abused in her childhood]], also because [[{{Pettanko}} she can]] [[{{Bifauxnen}} pull it off.]]

[[WMG: The people to whom the letters Ange found in 1998 were addressed were accomplices.]]The culprit contacted them and gave them an option to help him/her and receive a large sum of money, but didn't tell them the full extent of the plan. The culprit sent the letters addressing them towards the accomplices but also to a nonexistent address, so that when it returned the accomplice (or their next of kin) would receive the payment. The culprit did this knowing that there was a chance s/he wouldn't make it back to make the payment personally.* Can't be. Ange received a letter herself, and literally every surviving family member of the victims, save for Eva, received a letter. They couldn't all be accomplices.* The letters were addressed to Nanjo, Kumasawa, and Rudolf. The survivors were listed as the senders of those letters. * With the implication that way more than those three received letters, considering how many faults there were that belonged to the mysterious sender. Unless literally everyone on Rokkenjima was an accomplice, the idea doesn't work.* Not all of the accomplices would need to go to Rokkenjima. It's entirely possible that the culprit also had need of assistance from people who never needed to go to the island at all. Just because there wasn't an 18th person on the island doesn't mean there weren't X number of accomplices arranging details so that their benefactor could pull of his/her plan.** This still requires there to be literally dozens or even hundreds of accomplices for only 17 murders, and that all of these accomplices were apparently relatives. Sorry, but this is even more of a stretch than small bombs.** I don't believe there is any reason to believe that there would be that many accomplices, there were hundreds of safety deposit boxes, but only the ones with green lights belonged to the culprits account, and I don't recall there being any mention of how many there were of those.*** The green lights referred only to the specific boxes that could be opened by a specific key, and the keys each opened different boxes.

[[WMG: Kinzo was completely evil, everyone else was deformed by him.]]Kinzo made his money by giving his good family name to Yakuza schemes. That wasn't enough for his power hunger, so he tried using his children to make his family even more powerful while keeping a line of sex slaves (always nicknamed Beatrice because of his fascination with Western stuff) in the Kuwadorian. This deformed his children, which in turn influenced his grandchildren as well.

But Kinzo probably didn't stop there: after Hime-Beatrice (Beato) died, he looked for a new victim, and found it in Rosa who was guilt-ridden after Beato's death. (Ever wonder why Eva had to fight for her place in the line of inheritance while Rosa easily kept it? Because Maria is not just Kinzo's grandchild, but his daughter as well...)

Finally, after assaulting Jessica, Kinzo was killed by Krauss. When "Umineko" starts, the nightmare should be over, but Kinzo´s influence made his family distrust each other, so they start killing each other - in a different way each arc.* Wow... this actually makes sense! Kinzo assaulting Jessica... That's sort of not imaginable, though. ** Why not? She does look somewhat similar to Beatrice. Even if you don't believe that, she has blonde hair and Kinzo is known to be quite the Europhile.** I think the above troper means not imaginable [[PoisonOakEpilepticTrees in a different way than the way you understood it.]]

[[WMG: Kinzo is actually quite a nice guy]]The only scene of a not-proven-fake Kinzo was the one flashback in 'Banquet' when he went off at Eva for not being womanly enough. Which makes him kind of an asshole, but not a foaming-at-the-mouth mad warlock. It's not even a representative sample of his personality, just the one act that made the biggest impression on Eva.* [[color:red:In that flashback, it was stated that that was not a representative sample of Kinzo's personality and attitudes. In said flashback, he also went off at Krauss for laziness.]] [[color:blue:Kinzo meant to say something like "You are quite an impressive person, but unless you learn how to cook without burning water, you're not going to land a man worthy of such an impressive person, and dammit Eva, [[IWantGrandkids you're the only one in this family likely to produce a grandchild worthy of the Ushiromiya name]]", but due to both his senility and the Racist Grandpa principle, it came out sounding like StayInTheKitchen.]]** Possibly supported in [[http://img-a.onemanga.com/mangas/00004542/000260202/21.jpg this line from [=EP3=]'s manga.]]--->'''Krauss (to Eva, after Kinzo's outburst):''' ''Eva, take your leave. It's not his true feelings. I'll calm him down.''

[[WMG:Shannon murdered Jessica and possibly Kanon in the second arc.]]Shannon's alibi for that murder, that she was writing a will for Kinzo, is bunk, since Kinzo's dead. She and Genji have no alibi for this murder. However, she is explicitly pointed out as one of the few people Jessica would trust enough to expose her back to her (Remember, Jessica was stabbed in the back, so they pointed out that it was likely that the person who murdered her was someone she trusted). She is only dismissed on the basis of her alibi. The only hole here is that Rosa, for some reason, corroborates the alibi a few different times. The best explanation I can think of for this is that Shannon found out (or perhaps manipulated) that Rosa killed everyone on the first twilight, which is a giant assumption, but an acceptable enough theory that I'll work it in here. And later on, when Rosa found out that Kinzo was dead, Shannon blackmailed her into corroborating the whole "Kinzo's alive and I was writing his will" thing. I'm not certain what happened with Kanon, though. I can see him being either left alive in order to create the illusion of the second twilight if he was, perhaps, her accomplice, or dead and hidden somewhere else in the mansion. The first option would be useful for the next few twilights, though.* Yup, that's what I thought too. I believed that she took Kanon's body so that it could be posed as her own during the 4th twilight, while she escapes unscathed to kill the rest. Just like how in [=EP4=], Kanon's body also wasn't found yet he was confirmed dead - I think Shannon took it and disguised it as herself. * I would like to point out that [[color:blue:Shannon could well have been "working on" Kinzo's will as in ''fabricating'' it, and set things up so that things would go well for her, Rosa, and Genji.]] That doesn't rule out this possibility, though, if [[color:blue:she finished writing it earlier than she told everyone and killed another heir, Jessica, that she had included to throw off suspicion.]] I will point out, though, that Shannon cannot have disguised Kanon's corpse as herself. [[color:red:No double body tricks are possible, and the identities of all named corpses are confirmed.]]

[[WMG:Battler is actually perfectly competent and highly intelligent]]I think we can all agree that Red Text speaks the truth, but the truth might not necessarily be a fact. After all "You are incompetent" is an opinion in the truest sense, not a fact. So in Beato's point of view, Battler is incompetent but he's actually reeeaaaallllyyy competent. See, who else can think of something as case-cracking as the small bombs theory?* But the Red doesn't work that way; it doesn't allow things you simply think are true, they have to be genuinely factual. Otherwise Battler would've never had a problem with using the Red.** But an opinion can be neither purely fact nor purely fiction. Something factual, like whether Asumu's Battler's mother, can have an absolute truth too it, but something that's a judgement of an individual can't. That's where the difference lies. This person's arguing that since there can be neither a pure truth to a judgment, such things get lumped into the red, whether or not they would be judged to be true by a different person.** [[color:blue:Battler's incompetence was in how he used the Devil's Proof. The "tiny bombs" bit was perfectly valid.]] [[color:red:Seriously, "because of the Devil's Proof" isn't a magic "I don't have to explain this unlikely element" incantation.]]

[[WMG:The chapel was never locked in the second arc]]Battler wasted a bunch of time hounding Beatrice about the key in Maria's envelope after the first twilight, but he never bothered to check the most basic premise of all.

From the time Beato handed the envelope to Maria until Rosa unsealed it in the morning, the key passed through no one's hands. If the chapel was locked to begin with, the key couldn't have been used to let the victims in, and if it was initially unlocked, the key couldn't have been used to lock it after the murders. In other words, the only possibility is that the door wasn't ever locked at all.* Not actually true. The red text says that the envelope remained sealed until Rosa opened it the next day, not the next morning. Rosa could have opened the envelope at one minute past midnight on the second day or any time after that, and it wouldn't conflict with the red text, so there's plenty of time for the key to be used to lock or unlock the door.** Of course, that contradicts the scene where the adults met Beato, which happened before midnight.*** No proof that actually happened though.

There was a scene where Genji told Rosa the door was locked, but it was already open by the time Battler arrived. How do we know that scene wasn't false, or that Genji wasn't lying to Rosa?

* Also, keep in mind that Rosa is present in that chapel ''with the rest of the siblings and their spouses.'' She appears in the chapel scene, acknowledges Beatrice like the everyone else there, and wakes up the next morning in her bed. If we go by a theory on wordplay that appears further up, Rosa could have opened the key the second it became midnight, the second it became "the next day" of Beatrice's statement about the letter not being opened until the next day, used some sort of pretext to bring her siblings and their spouses into the chapel, and killed them. Maria could also have received that letter at a later point than we are told she did.

[[WMG:There is a fake Master Key.]]Beato only ever confirms that the key she gave to Maria, the key to the chapel, is genuine. The locked rooms that occur afterward in the second arc can be beaten if you claim that someone pickpocketed one of the Master Keys off of one of the servants and replaced it with a fake Master Key. One that looks similar, but wouldn't work if used on the doors. Another thing that Beato is never forced to say is that each servant has one genuine Master Key at the time of the murders. Since the fake Master Key wouldn't work if it were used, it can still be said that there are only five Master Keys.* [[color:red:There are five Master Keys, one for each servant!]]** [[color:blue:But if there is a fake Master Key that merely looks like a Master Key but doesn't work, then it cannot be called a true Master Key, now, can it?]] [[color:red:On Rokkenjima, there are, indeed, five Master Keys,]] [[color:blue:and one key that looks like a Master Key, but isn't.]]

[[WMG: Battler is the man from 19 years ago is Beatrice's child]]Ninteen years ago, Kinzo rocked up to Natushi with an infant that she was to "welcome as my grandchild". Nineteen years ago is approximately the time Rosa's Beatrice fell to her death -- Natsuhi is even kind enough to note that "Rosa was still living in the house back then."

The kid was Kinzo's child by that Beatrice, of course. There's no way the old man would allow a stranger with inferior non-Ushiromiya genes into the pinnacle of the inheritance hierarchy. A suddenly orphaned child and a childless heir was too convenient to pass up.

When he was told that the kid had died, his only response was a senile-sounding ramble about how he 'expected' that, and they had 'escaped again'. So far as Kinzo knew, the previous Beatrice also died from randomly falling from a cliff. He might have come to feel it was his 'fate' to lose every part of Beatrice that way[[hottip:* :The Original Beatrice may also have died from falling, in which case he really needs to think of putting in some safety rails.]].

The still-living child was squirreled away by Rudolf and/or Kyrie and/or Asumu as a trump card against Kinzo. A genuine illegitimate Kinzo spawn would be of great value, just so long as he never learns the truth and becomes bitter and vengeful.* Disquieting implications: if Rosa's Beatrice was the daughter of Kinzo's Beatrice, then Battler is Kinzo's son AND Kinzo's grandson. No wonder everyone and their dog is compelled to observe how much they look alike. Also, he's romancing the metatextual projection of his grandmother.* Ooh, I like this theory a lot. I guess the big question I have is "How did Battler get from cliff to Rudolf?" Was it some sort of deal that the servant struck in advance, and then the servant faked his/her own death or something?

[[WMG: Hanyuu will set Bern right in the Good Ending]]There will be hugging and crying.

[[WMG: The stakes were originally less sinister objects (oversize chess pieces?)]]They were introduced to an angle grinder and became murder weapons. Fits the series theme of innocent things being repurposed to sinister ends.%% Paperweights? Hee!

[[WMG: 'Beatrice' is the name of the smog monster from ''{{Lost}}'']]All mysteries can be explained by this.

[[WMG: The reason why the murders are so brutal, and the reason why Beatrice acts the way she does, is because the game is being played during Beatrice's time of the month.]]That explains everything! No wonder she was begging for death; who would want to be [[FateWorseThanDeath stuck in an eternal loop with a never-ending period? Or never-ending PMS for that matter?]]* That explain why the Red truth is, you know... red.

[[WMG: Bern and Lambda used to, before becoming witches, be part of the older Ushiromiya lineage.]]There's no proof for it, and yet, there's none against it. Why are they so interested in Beatrice's game? In [=EP5=], it's shown that they actually care very little for Beatrice. They're interested in the game because they want to see how the new generation of the family, that apparently rose to higher riches, handles the game!* I don't buy it. Bernkastel was originally an aspect of Rika Furude, and I doubt the two families are linked. They don't care about anyone in the game, they're just bored.** If I might take it a step further and present a theory of my own, it's because Lambdadelta has a stake in the game, and granted Beatrice her power of "certainty" to win. However, Battler's appearance was an unexpected and unwanted variable, yet it's too late to call off the game and Beatrice can't go against Lambdadelta unless she wants her witchy sponser to abandon her, which she believes (at first) will reduce her to a mere human. The truth is, of course, that she doesn't need the acknowledgement in the first place, but she has forgotten that, and Lambdadelta is using her as a plaything to be discarded when she's done with her. Also, Frederica Bernkastel was sorely lacking empathy or real compassion back in HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi, so if it's the same person, she's been a sore loser for some time now.*** That sounds about right, but I would amend that, since the game was always expected to involve Battler, and Lambdadelta and Bernkastel both bank on this, the unexpected element is Battler actually doing well.

[[WMG: The X person from 19 years ago.]]* The gender of the baby has not been declared in red, therefore in can be either male or female. Even if Natsuhi gets a call from a male claiming to be the son, the reader has no proof of the babby was actually male to begin with.* It is stated that Shannon came from the same orphan house as that baby.* Shannon's age has not been revealed.* Battler's birth circumstances are in question, even his theory is that he's actually the person from 19 years agoThere are actually two people that fit this criteria properly, Battler -and- Shannon, Jessica might count as well if you believe that she's Natsuhi's child althought there's no red for this either. Considering Natsuhi's mental state, there is still a possibility that the guilt caused her to love -another- adopted child as her own.

In other words, we have 3 people in the same age group, two of 'em have special birth circumstances and the other one has a parent with mental issues which might serve to put their birth circumstances in question.

[[WMG: At the end of Umineko Meta-Battler will find himself in the same position as Bernkastel after Higurashi ]]He will become a separate entity form his human self, a Sorcerer wandering the sea of kakera for all eternity. He will be forever separated from everyone he cares about, his only companion being the enemy he fought all this time,and came to love......after all now they have only each other.

[[WMG: Siesta 00 is the girl Keiichi shot through the eye.]]Really for no reason other than the eyepatch. Perhaps the lynching on the battlefield for being inhuman is a metaphor for Keiichi's detachment that led him to act the way he did.

[[WMG: Rudolf is responsible for the time loop.]]When he recited the KonamiCode all the way back in [=EP1=], he inadvertently gave everyone infinite lives.* Which version of [=EP1=] does he say it in, Anime, Manga, or V.N.?** It only appears in the Visual Novel, since it's in the airport and both of the other versions cut that.

[[WMG: Beatrice is actually a teapot.]]* In [=EP1=], the giant murder party started after tea was served. Poison tea could cause everyone to hallucinate about stakes and gore and shit. What contained the tea? Teatrice.* In [=EP2=], Shannon gets the gold butterfly brooch thing while she's on the beach. This makes little sense, though, as a) she wouldn't be on the beach, she'd be doing meido things, and b) how the hell would a servant get a perfectly made golden brooch? Shannon is actually just in the kitchen, and she's holding the teapot that is Beatrice. She's thinking about George and how she is in ~RABU~ with him, which translates to the magical love-enhancing power whatsit of the butterfly brooch.* One of Natsuhi's many delusions in [=EP5=] is that she's drinking tea with Beatrice. However, Bern states in red that there was only one person drinking tea there. Natsuhi still was technically drinking tea with "Beatrice," because TEATRICE.* Bronove hangs around Beato and makes cookies. Cookies go with tea, right? And tea goes with teapots. TEATRICE.* Beatrice is Western. Kinzo's got an obsession with Western shit, right? Well, the teapot was imported from Europe.* To get around the "only humans are involved" rule...well, who brought out the teapot? Who bought it in the first place? Who put the tea in it? There's an "accomplice," someone using the teapot...but the teapot itself is what's killing people. ** This kind of implies that Battler fell in love with a teapot and said lots of Engrishy things to it. HE'LL RIDE IN ON A WHITE HORSE TO SAVE YOU, TEAPOT-CHAN~! He could have dropped the teapot or something, which would make it really hard to put back together. He probably got in trouble and promised that he'd be back next year to put it together on his own, but after he left the family they realized that he wouldn't be back. So, they put it together again, and put it on some shelf somewhere...until the family conference six years later, where they decided to take it out again.* Maria's used to speaking to inanimate objects, so TEAPOT AS BFF is no problem there.** I like this theory.** It's actually a lot closer to the truth than you might think. While she might (or might not) be teapot shaped, though, she isn't a teapot.

[[WMG:In [=EP3=], Beatrice didn't epicly troll Battler; Battler trolled HER!]]He probably planned the contract thing from the start, and what really was written there is "I do not accept Beatrice as a witch" with "do not" in very tiny letters. Battler read out "I accept you as a witch" so that Beato won't concentrate too much on what really was written. Then he made Beato sign first. Tah-dah. ''Ihihihihi!! Humans don't refooorm!''

[[WMG:Battler's sin is killing a duck.]]Battler killed a duck, and wears it on his head, stained with blood. Beatrice sides with PETA, and wants him to realize his sin.* [[MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate Good riddance.]]

[[WMG: The 07151129 number puzzle has another meaning]]We can solve this by using [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha iroha.]] We know "0715" is Battler's birthday. If we translate "1129" into hiragana, we get "ii rori". So... "Battler is a good loli"! Considering how often iroha is used in Japanese-language mysteries, it's not that far-fetched, is it?* So what does that mean? Are you proposing that this all comes down to those promises Battler got out of Maria?

[[WMG: Ryukishi07 visited friends in South Korea before writing out the plot]]...and while he was there, they showed him this funny American game that's very popular where they live. It has aliens; and guns; and online multiplayer. But the people online are a buncha eleven-year olds, and Ryukishi07 decided to write about his experiences in his next series of VNs.* Nobody got murdered, but the connection wasn't great, so there's a fair amount of disconnecting going on.* These people were using invisible units. Freaking invisible. Where are the gosh darn things? They aren't there at all! I won't recognize them! They don't exist!* Red got confused, though, and started taking things too seriously. But he got better after a good challenge was thrown at him.* Grey and yellow pulled a "in order to fool your foe, you must first fool you friend" style of trick, which involved yellow killing grey's main and then grey warping in Zealots on red. Luckily for red, that was about when his little sister's forces arrived, and she managed to save his base.* After a couple of games, the host (yellow) got tired and started lagtrolling everyone. Thankfully, blue and pink lived in an apartment near her's, and threw stale spaghetti at her windows until she reconnected.* Red's little sister wanted to play, too, but he didn't realize who she was and almost killed her main. Then she lagged out.Did I miss anything?

[[WMG:All Bernkastel wants is a heartwrenching story with a heartwarming ending.]]... So much that she would even play the villain just to see a story like that. I mean, she probably couldn't get enough of Rika's story, and since it's over she wants to see a new one, and spots potential in the Ushiromiya family. She screws with them and makes them all sad just to be able to see them happy and hugging in the end, and she will move off with a contented sigh, commenting about "This is even better than that girl's story."* Actually, it seems that good old Trollkastel [[spoiler: feels the exact opposite of the way you think she acts: "......All this about love......and promises. ......To end the game quietly and let her sleep in peace? ......That sort of ending would make anyone vomit. I didn't give Battler all that advice so that he could end things like that. ......I had his little sister turned to scrap meat behind his back. I had his parents and family killed horribly over and over again. That was all to spark a desire for revenge against Beato." - Episode 6]]

[[WMG: The baby from 19 years ago is a RedHerring]]We know it was possible for the game's to be solved after the first four. The existence of the baby wasn't even implied until the 5th game, so it's unlikely that the child's existence is important to the mystery. * Weren't the baby and the servant mentioned as backstory in the first game?** Certainly the servant was. Alternatively, the baby could be Battler; saying that his mother isn't Asumu does rather imply that she was someone else, doesn't it?** But we were also told that Kyrie gave birth, and miscarried, the same day that Asumu did. It's possible that Asumu was the one who really miscarried, and tricked people into thinking Battler was her child when it was really Kyrie's.

[[WMG: Ange isn't Battler's little sister...]]... she's [[AreYouMyMummy his daughter]]. This theory is only viable if Battler is the child from 19 years ago, pushing up his age. Battler would have been around 13 to 14 years old when Ange was conceived(Battler's supposed to be 18 + 1 year between when Natsuhi received the child and when Battler was born + 1 year for the child having existed prior to Natsuhi being given it rounded up -7 years = ~ 13) it's possible for boys to produce viable sperm at that age. He's also shown that he believes acting pervy is something a man's supposed to do. He and one of the servant girls go at it, girl gets pregnant. Nine months pass, servant gives birth to Ange, but by this point Asumu is dead, so Rudolf hurries Kyrie into the registry in order to make it seem that Ange is their child conceived by affair before Asumu's death. Battler gets angry, doesn't realize his sister is his daughter and leaves the family. 6 years later Ange's real mother takes revenge on the Ushiromiya family because Battler stole her heart, knocked her up, and then forgot all about her.* It's so much crueller than that. Battler was a precocious casanova, like his father. Ange is Kyrie's daughter. Battler is very likely Kyrie's son too, but neither know it. That Oedipus guy, too, kept going on about 'truth truth truth', but what he learned didn't make him happy.* Plus, think about it: Six years ago, Battler commited some terrible sin. Those very six years ago, Ange was born. Hmm....

[[WMG: In relation to the above, Ange's mother is Beatrice.]]It was implied at one point that Beatrice used to be furniture, so she could have been a servant for the Ushiromiya household prior to becoming Beatrice. She could have been the servant girl whom Battler slept with, and the one to give birth to Ange. However, this was back when she was a sweet, naive girl who knew little about how the real world worked. She would not fully understand the social ramifications of a young woman (never mind a twelve or thirteen year old) having a child out of wedlock. She is the mother who wants revenge on Battler not only for knocking her up, but (in her eyes) for stealing her child away from her.* Doubt it. Battler's actually pretty innocent in this aspect, and there's no proof to back up this claim. He only had a crush on one person in his life, and it was Shannon, but according to what he said in Ep5, he never actually confessed to her before he made those cheesy Engrish statements and left for 6 years and never came back. ** Schroedinger's Virginity; besides, Ange's mother doesn't have to be a servant girl who eventually took on the name of "Beatrice". For all we know, it could be [[KissingCousins Jessica.]]

[[WMG: Kanon is literally NotHimself]]After the fight with Kanon in EP 2, the servants say that when he attacked them, he was not himself. Rather than an abrupt personality change, he may have been a completely different person altogether - because he was murdered prior to the game. Said murderer then proceeded to disguise themselves as Kanon. This also leaves room for an extra person to appear in [[color:red:"There are no more than 17 people on the island!"]] Additionally, this satisfies [[color:red:"Kanon died in this room."]] He could have been killed in that room, before the game, after which the body was hidden. This also explains why his body goes missing so often.* [[color:red:"The only one who can claim Kanon's name is the person himself! A different person cannot claim his name!]]** [[color:red:Kanon's real name is "Yoshiya".]] [[color:blue:The Red Truth could refer to the real name "Yoshiya" instead of his servant name "Kanon". In other words, that red could be read as "''the only person who can claim the name 'Yoshiya' is the servant called 'Kanon'! A different person cannot claim the name 'Yoshiya' for themselves!''"]]

[[WMG: Bernkastel is TheVirus]]This is generally hinted at throughout ''Umineko'', but I'd like to enumerate it. We know from ''Higurashi'' that "Frederica is not Furude Rika", but we also know that Bernkastel is probably an agglutination of all of those dead Rikas throughout ''Higurashi''. [[spoiler:Featherine Augusta Aurora is somehow related to Hanyuu, but not Hanyuu herself.]] The theory is that Bernkastel and Featherine are extremely powerful possible versions of Rika and Hanyuu and that, like an opportunistic infection, they forcibly write themselves into kakera after kakera (possibly overwriting the personalities of the existing Rika and Hanyuu). Either the ''Higurashi'' universe is one of the kakera that escaped this treatment or [[PoisonOakEpilepticTrees the Rika and Hanyuu we all know and love are the ones who went evil in the first place]].* Poison oak or not, that one might be correct. [[color:red:Rika and Hanyuu essentially overwrite the personality of the new world's Rika and Hanyuu.]]** [[color:red: Whenever we see Rika incarnate into a new world it is right after the Rika of that world has had an experience that she could have died from.]] [[color:blue: In every case the native Rika actually did die, but Hanyuu used her powers to revive the body and attach the "main" Rika's soul to it. Thus, the native Rika's soul simply does whatever the souls of the dead normally do.]]*** [[color:red:You have not proposed a mechanism by which Bernkastel and [[spoiler:Featherine]] write themselves into new universes!]] [[color:blue:They use the method you outlined above!]]*** [[color:gold:Bernkastel is '''not''' Furude Rika.]] Shame on you if you thought so. [[color:red:Bernkastel originated as a ''database'' from which Hanyuu extracted the memories of 'her' Rika, with which she replaced the different kakera's native Rikas because having so many copies of the same memories was taking a toll on Rika's sanity.]] [[color:blue: I propose that Bernkastel's malice and insanity are results of being a creature created to store the massive backlog of memories from hundreds or thousands of Bad Ends.]] [[color:red:Bernkastel is indeed TheVirus and ''a'' Furude Rika (many of them, actually), but the Furude Rika who turns the calendar to 1 July Showa 58 is not the Furude Rika who is the CompleteMonster BigBad of ''Umineko''.]] [[color:red:Not enough is known about Featherine yet to speculate firmly,]] [[color:blue:but I suggest that she is a similarly 'corrupted' (like a bad Temporary File in a computer) Hanyuu.]]

[[WMG: Kumasawa wrote the bottle messages.]]The writer of the messages had the same handwriting as the "Beatrice" in Maria's Grimoire. Maria claims to have met Beatrice every year on the island, so it stands to reason that they were there that year too. Kumasawa appears to narrate certain details, ones that would otherwise go unexplained for several games, a few times early in the first game as if she were the one telling the story.

[[WMG: Maria really does understand (somewhat) the things Battler asks her to promise to him. She promises anyway because she developed a crush on him when they met at the airport.]]Uu~ Maria doesn't have many human friends... But Battler understands Maria Uu~

Uu~ Everything's more fun when Battler's around Uu~ Battler even knows about Halloween Uu~ If only Maria could get Battler to believe in magic Uuu~

* [[{{Lolicon}} No.]] [[NoJustNo Just...]] [[{{Squick}} no.]]** Aw, you're no fun... Uu~! Maria's glad to see Beatrice again! Maybe now... Uu~? [[WomanScorned Why is Battler paying so much attention to Beatrice?]] [[GreenEyedMonster Why has Battler forgotten about Maria?]] Uu~. [[{{Yandere}} Maybe it's not such a good thing Beatrice's here.]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse Maybe Beatrice needs to sleep forever.]] [[IfICantHaveYou Maybe Battler should join her if he likes her so much.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:red:You will not harm Battler Ushiromiya nor Beatrice The Golden Witch!]] [[color:red:I will not allow you to harm them!]] If you want your petty revenge against your cousin and your teacher, you will have to go through me. Do you think you can defeat me? ''Come, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kalin_Kessler try to satisfy me,]] '''MARIA USHIROMIYAAA!!!'''''*** (Other respondent.)[[color:blue: Uu~, Maria doesn't need to defeat you. Maria doesn't even need to harm them herself. Don't you see the thirteen corpses Maria's helper left lying around? It will be midnight soon, and then the ninth twilight will come. Sleep in peace, my ''[[SarcasmMode beloved]]'' witch Beatrice.]]**** (Respondent here.) I meant what I said, arrogant child. If you want your revenge, you must defeat me in this game. Also, what do you mean by the thirteen...? * looks at a bonfire, thirteen bodies can be seen burning* Oh, those? Thought it wouldn't be respectful to leave them lying around. Your helper? You mean that person? * a faraway gallows has someone hanging from it, but neither the gender or the identity can be verified* Heh, not their first time doing it. Harumph. Arrogant girl. Know your place. [[hottip:* :I know, I'm god-modding by offing the new elements, but I'm just messing around.]]

[[WMG:An explanation of the first twilight and Maria's death as derived from Maria's dream]]Isn't it odd that most of the first-person statesments in Maria's dream actually belong to ''Rosa''? [[color:red:Maria, in fact, in theory only gets one line of first-person, and it's a line on a screen that has nothing except for context to indicate that it is, in fact, Maria speaking.]]

[[color:red:If we yank the first person lines of the dream out of the context they're given in, we have Rosa waking up on a cold floor, meeting a child, coming to the conclusion that the child is Sakutaro and referring to him like that a few different times. Although he doesn't correct her, he doesn't confirm it either.]] We maybe have him saying that she needs to get away from Maria because Maria's not Maria anymore(I'm debating how much dialogue is relevant if we're removing narration from context. My leaning is to include it only where it is on the same screen as first-person narration). Then things start to get weird, where her head hurts a lot in connection to the "uryus", he leaves a hole in her hand, and then she denies him and he disappears (I forget whether this bit is in first-person or not). [[color:red:Rosa sees Maria and the silhouette of an adult behind her (Presumably Beatrice), and then after a lot of yelling, Rosa is torn apart by her own hands. Loads of third person. The next time we get the first person again is one line close to the end of the scene - "I erased that laughing voice. Next, I'll erase that laughing face."]]

[[color:red:One of the recurring theories as to how the first twilight of any arc could be possible is via a drug. However, Knox's 4th states on this matter that it can't be an unknown poison (in other words, drug).]] [[color:blue:Therefore, we must get more specific.]] [[color:red:There are already plenty of drugs that can make people have weird hallucinations,]] [[color:blue:but we don't even need to go that far. Just one that makes someone more suggestible - in other words, a depressant in the right dosage.]] Honestly, I would look at something like Ketamine - one of the "date rape drugs" - since [[color:red:it has both depressant and hallucinogenic qualities.]] In fact, as further evidence, I submit to you a section of ThatOtherWiki on Ketamine - my own speculations in red & blue:

"Ketamine produces effects similar to PCP and DXM. Unlike the other well known dissociatives PCP and DXM, ketamine is very short acting, its hallucinatory effects lasting sixty minutes when insufflated or injected and up to two hours when ingested, the total experience lasting no more than a couple of hours.[71] [[color:red:What ever was given to Kyrie et al. assuming none of them are the culprit could not last very long. Although for them, it did have to be even shorter than what's specified here.]] [[color:blue:However, for Rosa, if we assume my theory about Maria, the time frame is just about perfect.]] Like other dissociative anaesthetics, hallucinations caused by ketamine are fundamentally different from those caused by tryptamines and phenethylamines. At low doses, hallucinations are only seen when one is in a dark room with one's eyes closed, while at medium to high doses the effects are far more intense and obvious.[72] [[color:blue:I am, of course, vouching for the "medium to high dosages" point.]]

Ketamine produces a dissociative state, characterised by a sense of detachment from one's physical body and the external world which is known as depersonalization and derealization.[73] [[color:blue:Rosa's description of the dimension she was in sounds a lot like this.]] At sufficiently high doses (e.g. 150 mg intramuscular), users may experience what is coined the "K-hole", a state of dissociation whose effects are thought to mimic the phenomenology of schizophrenia.[74] Users may experience worlds or dimensions that are ineffable, all the while being completely unaware of their individual identities or the external world. Users have reported intense hallucinations including visual hallucinations, perceptions of falling [[color:red: This matches the account given by Kyrie, Krauss, Kanon, Shannon, and Nanjo]], fast and gradual movement and flying, 'seeing God', feeling connected to other users, objects and the cosmos, experiencing psychic connections, and shared hallucinations and thoughts with adjacent users. John C. Lilly[75], Marcia Moore[76] and D. M. Turner[77] (among others) have written extensively about their own spiritual/psychonautic use of ketamine. (Both Moore[78] and Turner[79] died prematurely in a way that has been linked to their ketamine use.)"

[[color:blue:What we are seeing in the first part is Rosa waking up while under the influence of the drug. She sees a child. Still trying to fill in the blank on that one. Normally, I'd say it's Maria, but since she shows up later... This is probably the toughest part to fill in. Will get back to it. Rosa's head hurts - that'd be easy under the influence of a lot of different drugs, especially if she were overdosed, which she would probably have to be in a lot of these cases.]]

[[color:red:Sees Maria and Beatrice.]] [[color:blue:Because of that, I'd yank this scene out of chronological context too and place it around the time Maria goes to take her test.]] [[color:red:Remember how her body is found? In the dining hall - the same place as the first twilight victims - including Rosa! And without any external injuries, so Battler himself theorizes that she was killed by poison.]] [[color:blue:This is before any of the adults have had their faces removed, although they may be dead (I would theorize that Rosa's relative lucidity was an unintended element). Chances are, they were just about to poison her - give her a snack while they talked, or something.]]

In fact, [[color:blue:I would take Maria's body being found in the dining room without injury as a support for the theory that the actual deaths of those six occur later than we are led to believe.]] It's not proof because she could have been killed in another room with the dining room with the dining room itself sealed off from her sight. [[color:blue:However, I propose that she was, in fact, killed in the dining room. She saw the adults napping in their chairs and was told either:]]

[[color:blue:a. They're napping. She's shown quite a few times to be gullible, so I wouldn't put falling for this past her.]]

[[color:blue:b. They're going to the Golden Land. They don't look hurt; they look peaceful. That would comfort her, and she would be fine with the situation.]]

Now, here's why I don't think she could have been led into the dining room if they were killed with their heads smashed at the time we think they were - [[color:blue:seeing the adults with faces half-gone would be an immediate warning to * RUN* for her.]] [[color:red:She still has some sort of sense of danger, even if she'll be led to the Golden Land. We saw that at the end of the second arc.]] Sure, that could have happened, and she could have been injected with something, but in that case, you'd expect to see some sort of evidence of a struggle, like an injury. [[color:red:There weren't any.]]

[[color:blue:So Rosa sees Maria and tries to go over to her without understanding what's going on around her, when she is grabbed by someone - I would definitely place this person among the fifteen, but I think the one behind Maria, if (s)he is among the ones we know of as that group, is very well disguised. Rosa is too doped to figure out that the hands grabbing her are, in fact, someone else's and thinks that they're her own hands.]]

[[color:red:Then we have that one line - "I erased that laughing voice. Next, I'll erase that laughing face."]] Doesn't necessarily need to refer to Rosa here. I would have it as any of the six adults, because remind me how they were found again? Oh yeah - [[color:red:THEIR FACES WERE HALF-GONE.]] I will say this, though - [[color:blue:it's most likely to be Rosa if we allow a tiny bit of context. Probably, knowing who it's referring to would be the key to cracking the mystery.]]

Now then, I know what you're thinking - "Well, then, why did Gohda and Kumasawa say that they saw the faces half-smashed before running to the guesthouse? [[color:blue:Answer: They were put up to it. After everyone else was drugged and passed out, they were told by the culprit what would happen to everyone. And then, they were told that if they wanted to be spared, to leave and go to the guesthouse while the culprit did that. The culprit, of course, lied to them - their heads were smashed later. They were also told to tell the kids what they were told as if they had witnessed it. If everything worked according to plan, then maybe the children would be spared too. They would definitely be killed if they were found outside the guesthouse. And so they took a chance that they would be able to save someone and did as they were told.]]

As for why this goes against Kyrie's first-person statements? Frankly, [[color:red:I don't trust them.]] I think that [[color:blue:Kyrie at the very least is aiding the culprit, probably against everyone else's knowledge.]] [[color:red:The fact that she goes so far as to describe the Siesta Sisters and goat-headed butlers]] is suspicious enough, but when it' s looking more and more likely that Shannon and Kanon are one person (see statements about that theory - connects to the sixth game too), the fact [[color:red:she stated that both of their deaths were separate]] makes me even more suspicious. [[color:blue:Thus, I suspect her first-person parts, where she talks about the golden thread smashing the faces, of being lies.]]

[[color:red:And Krauss never directly says it when he's on the phone. Jessica says that she heard from Kumasawa and Gohda after Krauss basically pauses]] [[color:blue:So what if he paused because he didn't actually know what had happened to Natsuhi when Jessica asked? Then Jessica says that and Krauss is worried about her rushing out to try to rescue Natsuhi, because he doesn't know what Gohda and Kumasawa told her - they may well have said that she was captured, as far as he knows. And so he tells her not to do anything brash.]]

There may be some other hints that can be gleaned from this scene, but the fact that it was so non-sensical in the flow of the story just makes me want to root around in it even more.

[[WMG: So. Stakes.]]They're shafts about yea long. In appearance disgusting, even 'demonic'. Viciously pointed ends. They embody all that is sinful. They're partially autonomous, and might leap up and try to pierce a person even if their bearer doesn't wish them to. They talk at length about how ecstatically pleasant it is pierce flesh.

''All of this'' was extrapolated from one phrase in the epitaph about how body parts should be 'gouged' somehow.

[[WMG: Battler has lost his magic immunity]]With Erika promised to take over the role of detective, Piece-Battler's lost any privileged status as 'narrator' or 'witness'. His testimony is no longer any more reliable that any other piece on the board. Because of this, the polite fiction that he never witnessed any witchery in action because of his abnormally strong magic resistance is no longer necessary.

The next time Battler slinks off on his own, he's going to turn on the lights and BOOM! Piece-Beatrice right up in his face. She'll give him a hug and a kiss, shake his hand and then slap him across the cheek.-->'''Beatrice:''' I can't ''say'' how long I've wanted to do that.Then she'll pull his face off, just for old time's sake.

[[WMG: Battler should be feeling a lot of deja vu right about now]]There is a woman who loves the Ushiromyia family very much. When she saw the terrible events that would follow from Kinzo's death, she swore to do anything to cover the truth with noble lies. She would gladly drag her reputation through the mud to preserve the honour of the Ushiromiya.

She never imagined how bad things would get, though, and the strain of constant deceit tears her apart. Worse than that, the witch of miracles has sent a detective against her who constantly attacks and belittles her, pokes holes in her deception and treats her with a chilling lack of love. Worse than ''that'', she's acting under duress, and an enigmatic mastermind sometimes orders her to perform acts which further slander her -- but if she refuses she will suffer the worst of all possible fates. Pinned on a board, she is gradually worn down until at her lowest ebb she breaks and confesses her darkest and most private shame. But it's all too late, zenzen dame da -- the torture has broken her and she'll never be whole again.

Quickly: did I just describe the events of Episode 5, or Episodes 1 to 4?

%% So in this metaphor the voice on the telephone would be... Lambdadelta... OH HELL THE VOICE ON THE TELEPHONE WAS LAMBDADELTA

* This is why I think Natsuhi is at least one of the most appropriate successors to the headship, despite marrying into the family. She ties with Eva for the position, IMO.

[[WMG: The "Battler is Kyrie's son" theory, and the "Battler is the child from 19 years ago theory" are compatible.]]Asumu and Kyrie gave birth around the same time. Asumu's child was stillborn, but if Kyrie gave birth to a son and Asumu didn't Rudolf would have to leave her for Kyrie. So Asumu has someone take Kyrie's child and put it up for adoption. Unfortunately for her, they put him in a certain orphanage that has close ties with the Ushiromiya family, causing Kinzo to find out. He tries to have Natsuhi raise the child but that doesn't go well. Then Kinzo puts Battler with Rudolf and Asumu and has them act like the child was born a year later then it really was.

[[WMG: Beatrice is actually three people.]]Meta-Beatrice, that is. At least, the Beatrice from the first four or five games; whether this still applies to her is debatable, but...meh. Anyway, she is composed of the three Beatrices who existed: The Beatrice Kinzo loved but could not marry, the Beatrice whom Rosa met, and piece-Beatrice, who is also loli-Beatrice from her dream in the beginning of Ep3.Kinzo did indeed love a woman named Beatrice, but that Beatrice [[DeathByChildbirth died shortly after giving birth to their illegitimate daughter.]] Kinzo had this girl raised in Kuwadorian so he could keep a part of his beloved Beatrice nearby without shaming the family, but then SHE died. Kinzo was now on the grip of insanity and devastation after losing the only reminder of his lover, so he adopted another Beatrice from his orphanage, a baby (or a child) with blonde hair and blue eyes, hoping to raise this girl to become his beloved Beatrice.

Now, this Beatrice was truly unique. She had a wild imagination but no playmates. She somehow learned about the previous Beatrice's (possibly by going through old diaries left behind in Kuwadorian, and looking up old photos) and these two women combined and became her imaginary friend. Then she met Battler, who promised to come back for her on a white horse (in combination with the Pony Theory). This caused her to take her imaginary playtime with 'Beatrice' to a whole new level; she started dressing up like Beatrice and even claimed that she was Beatrice herself, pretending to be a princess awaiting for her prince to arrive.

To her misfortune, however, an already unstable Kinzo took her words a little too literally. He visited her one night, and questioned her of her identity, asking if she remembered him. She tried to explain she was just playing make-believe, but he tortured her into 'confessing' to being his beloved Beatrice. After this 'confession', he then proceeded to sexually assault her, believing this was his beloved Beatrice come back to him. Alternately, Genji and Kumasawa showed up just before he had a chance to do this, but it was too late; the damage had already been done.

After this incident, she was [[BreakTheCutie completely broken,]] thoroughly convinced it was her fault for pretending to be Beatrice while Kinzo was within earshot. She had a total nervous breakdown, causing her personality to [[LiteralSplitPersonality split quite literally]] (similar to Eva and Eva-Beatrice) and merge with the other two Beatrices. Therefore, meta-Beatrice is in fact all three Beatrices put together.

This Beatrice has all the memories of the past Beatrices who lived, but she also has a combination of the three Beatrices' personalities, which is why she keeps tripping through the [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Face Heel Revolving Door]]. One of these Beatrices (probably the first) was slightly arrogant, the other one (the second) was a bit softer yet naive and unknowing of the world beyond Kuwadorian, and the third was a slight mixture of the two childish and naive, yet jaded by her experience with Kinzo, while also holding an affection for Battler. When you mix these three personalities together, you get meta-Beatrice.* This theory works quite well, but I'd make one small alteration, the original Beatrice secretly survived and stayed by Kinzo's side without him knowing it. This helps reconcile the Virgilia/Kumasawa as Predecessor Beatrice argument with this one.

[[WMG: A Brief Explanation of Time Loops]]This theory arose as a means of trying to explain the time loop and meta-world without magic. It does however, require some seriously unlikely psychological phenomena. It's based on the time looping concept from Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel ''All You Need is Kill''.Basically, only the beginning of the first arc and the conclusion of the last arc really happen. Everything else is Battler contemplating the path that's led him to the point at which he usually dies and considering where that path will lead him.

First Arc: The murders commence as usual. Before the ninth twilight, Battler tries to imagine what will happen next. His conclusion is that he, George, Maria, and Jessica will be killed in the ninth twilight, so he tries to formulate a plan that will lead to a better end.

Second Arc: Battler commences his session of thinking and imagines another possible way the last few days events could have played out. (His thinking here is influenced by the conversation about "bad luck" he overhears Genji and Kanon having in Episode 1.) Battler realizes accepting Beatrice rather than denying her will yield different results, but when he considers the consequences, it dawns on him that that course of action will only lead to more death.

Third Arc: Battler wonders if safeguarding his own safety by hiding would be a better course of action. He also probes his mind for memories of his grandmother's tales about Beatrice and discovers he remembers more about her than he thought. His disdain for the idea of Beatrice being the culprit leads him to assume Eva, being the most blatantly obvious suspect, is the killer. He realizes that if this is so, she'll eventually get to him anyway and moves on to another line of thought.

Fourth Arc: Battler, remembering the purpose of the family conference and the original positions of the first twilight victims, realizes it is quite likely his grandfather is the culprit. This hasty conclusion is a similar error to his folly regarding Eva in the third arc, and he decides that the very idea is absurd. His thoughts lead him to piece together a theory that Kinzo may already be dead, and thus should not play into his scheming any further.

Fifth Arc: In his despair at his inability to come up with a method of survival, Battler's thoughts lapse from strategy to fantasy. He prays desperately for a deus ex machina situation to occur and save him from his fate. His hopes manifest in the idea of a "super-detective" that would have the skills to solve the mystery. It finally hits Battler that if Beatrice doesn't exist, one of his family members must be a culprit and he hates the idea, so he changes his thinking.

Final Arc (Unseen): Battler comes to an ultimate conclusion, solves the mystery, and defeats the culprit. This is the true answer to the first arc.All meta world segments can be considered metaphorical looks into Battler's mind.

[[WMG:Rosa was planning on giving Maria a new Sakutaro on Rokkenjima.]]We know that Ange found something when she went down the stairs while talking with Captain Kawabata. We also know that things clicked into place for her regarding Maria and Beatrice. We also know that in the Golden Land, she summoned the Sakutarou ''plushie'', which was the thing that allowed Maria to accept Sakutaro's existence again. This completely flummoxed Beatrice, who tried to state in red that Sakutaro was a plushie handmade by Rosa, and that there was only-" and then she stopped. Inference would lead us to think that she was trying to say that there was only one in the world. This, she couldn't say because what Ange had found was another Sakutaro plushie. Rosa had packed it to take to Rokkenjima, but dropped it accidentally on the boat ride over there. Captain Kawabata later found it and, although he wasn't sure who had dropped it, planned to give it back to them later. Of course, he couldn't do that, but he held on to the plushie, and after 12 years, of course he wouldn't remember it. After all, he had no one to connect it to. But Ange noticed because she knows what Sakutaro looks like, and on Rokkenjima, 12 years after the murders, she offered it there to Maria's spirit so that Maria's spirit could be at peace. Before she, herself, died.

* At the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key.** At the first arc's tea party there were only six people (if you don't count Beatrice).* At the second twilight, the surviving shall tear apart the two who are close.** Perhaps referring to Maria and Rosa being torn apart (in more ways than one) at the end of the 2nd arc.** Rather, the whole arc revolved around it: First all of the adult COUPLES, then Jessica and Kanon, then George and Shannon, and finally Maria and Rosa. In short, the theme of the whole arc. * At the third twilight, the surviving shall praise my honorable name on high.** First arc with someone finding the gold and escaping, Battler almost gives in to Beatrice due to her 'North Wind and Sun' strategy.* At the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.** The illusion of the living Kinzo (the head of the Ushiromiya family) is destroyed, nearly every death involves a head wound.** Also, Battler's mental breakdown after finding out about [[spoiler:Asumu not being his mother.]] * At the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.** The object that [[spoiler:killed Battler]] was piercing his chest.** Not to mention [[spoiler:Beatrice's death, chest = heart, etc.]]* At the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.** This one is more on the metaphorical side I think (it might just plain not fit, but it's close enough for me to add), but [[spoiler:some anatomists consider parts of the female reproductive system to be part of the abdomen, which is what most people refer to when they say stomach/belly; All five of the characters confirmed dead had them, and four of those had used them... Eva was even telling George that he still counted as being there up until he killed her, and the second to last blow he dealt her was to her abdomen.]]

The following twilights are for games that have either not been translated or have not been released, added here for completeness.

* At the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.* At the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.* At the ninth twilight, the Witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive.* At the tenth twilight, the journey shall end and you should reach the village of gold.

Furthermore, what someone would be given for reaching the golden land sounds like what would happen if the story ends with a happy ending, as many assume/hope it will. The witch being put to sleep sounds like it represents the illusion of the witch being dispelled.

* This is impressive. It gets a little weak at the sixth twilight, but gains strength towards the end. Considering 07 will probably only do 8 episodes, the 9th and 10th represent the game ending and us solving the mystery, respectively.

[[WMG: Love and the Seven Stakes of Purgatory]].Some old books show the Plan of Dante's Inferno. These books divide the Seven sins into 3 based on Love. * Misdirected Love: Pride, Envy and Wrath.* Defficient Love: Sloth* Excessive Love: Gluttony, Lust and Greed.Considering reaching Beatrice is understanding Love, this might prove relevant.

[[WMG: Torture is Witchspeak for "I love you."]]Among witches, torturing your crush Higurashi/Umineko style is a perfectly acceptable way to court someone, because it's meant to be a fun game and gives you an excuse to spend lots of time with your target and get to know them. Hence the reason for all the LesYay between Bern and Lambda; by witch standards, Higurashi is a classic romance story, and Bern was very touched by all the effort Lambda went through to win her over. For whatever reason, Beato has fallen in love with Battler and is trying to win him over the way any other witch would: by setting up a high stakes game (the gruesome murders just make it that much more exciting). However, torture isn't romantic at all for most humans, so Battler utterly rejects Beatrice at first. Beato realizes this fact over the course of the games and starts flirting with him in a more conventional (by human standards) manner. This is why her playing is so lackluster--she wants the damn game to end because it doesn't serve her purposes any more. However, it's not so easy to stop a courtship ritual once it's started, which gives Bern and Lambda to take it over for their own purposes.

[[WMG: The last people alive are killed by a time bomb]]On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive and none shall be left alive. And inevidently everyone alive near the end of 5th of October disappear. This is simply a time bomb set by the culprit to explode at 24:00, at the end of the second day. This causes some kind of landslide under the mansion, burying most of the corpses and evidence. Eva was able to escape this by going to Kuwadorian in time. A bomb might also explain why the last people are so messily killed, and only a jaw is left of Maria in Episode 1. This is also why Battler dies at the end of Episode 4, even if nobody else was alive on the island, after waiting a whole day. Which is why the time the game ends is important. [[color:red:Ushiromiya Battler. I will now... kill you. And right now, there is no one other than you on this island. The only one alive on this island is you. Nothing outside the island can interfere. You are all alone on this island. And of course, I am not you. Yet I am here, now, and will kill you.]] "Beatrice" is already dead, but she's the one who set up the bomb, so techically she did kill Battler even if nobody else was there, and it isn't anything outside the island.* Okay then. [[color:red:Ushiromiya Battler. There is no one else on the island. You are the only living person. This island is a ClosedCircle. I am not you. There is someone speaking to you right now. That person is now going to kill you. Who are they, how are they speaking to you, and how are they going to kill you?]]** [[color:blue:You are a hallucination. That person is dead, and they have already set a time bomb.]]

[[WMG: The golden butterflies are a lit fuse]]The golden butterflies might actually be the light from a lit fuse, a sparkling kind. If you follow them, it might lead to some trap to injure the follower... In the end of Episode 1, I reckon the survivors saw golden butterflies and Beatrice coming out of the portrait. That scene might be about a fuse set on the portrait, which might give quite an impression when it lights up.

[[WMG: Kanon is Bernkastel]]Kanon is frequently and in an oddly deliberate manner compared to a cat. Bernkastel has a cat tail and at one point actually shows up as a cat. Kanon compares himself to a duck when talking to Jessica. Bernkastel said that she fell into Lambdadelta's trap like a duck in the extra Bernkastel's letter TIP. Bernkastel's obsessed with exposing Beatrice. Kanon expressed a former desire to "disclose her TrueColors" should he find her in the Gohda diary TIP, and still now dislikes her. He is also implied to be sneaking around throughout significant portions of the episodes - perhaps gathering clues? Both are also pretty calm, collected, and snarky, except when they get pissed.

[[WMG: Maria is the reincarnation of [[{{TheBible}} Mary]].]]It's stated in Episode 4 that MARIA has the maternal power to give birth to 1 from the sea of 0. [[{{WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic}} That's not exactly subtle is it?]] Other hints include the cross in her name, the murders in the ''chapel'' being dedicated to her, her belief in the guidance of a [[{{HotWitch}} higher]] [[{{GOD}} being]], and most of all, the rarity of her death. I surmise that being the one chosen to give birth to TheMessiah would make her too holy to be touched by Beatrice and the [[{{TheLegionsOfHell}} Stakes]]. Also, perhaps the [[{{OurAngelsAreDifferent}} Eiserne Jungfrau]] appearing from heaven to execute the hellish forces on Rokkenjima is evidence that {{God}} is protecting his [[{{Squick}} "investment"]].* So this clearly means Sakutaro is Jesus (the White Heart of Maria, her best friend and main creation, redeems her soul when he's revived, is a lion like Aslan, is loved by all, cannot be harmed by anything magical), so does this mean Beatrice is God? She speaks in Red Truth like Jesus in some versions of the Bible, her Endless Magic is godlike according to Eva-Beatrice, Mary/Maria believes in her despite being devout, she speaks of love and can command demons while mentioning Jesus a couple times, only people who believe her can see her, accepting her existence means going to a paradise, and she starts off being an evil monster, then turns into a hippie LoveFreak like the Old and New Testaments.** Wait, Jesus speaks in red truth in the Bible? [[JesusWasWayCool That's awesome!]]*** Well not so much Red Truth. Literally every word he says is in Red, because he's just that badass.**** I thought that was just to assert his authority (ties in with a WMG above) whether those around him acknowledge it or not. Alternatively, it was a clue that he's not a normal human.* I agree with the main theory linking Maria to Mary, but not that other troper's theory linking Beatrice to God. No, Maria is Beato (which is an actual word meaning blessed), Beato is known to be in love with Battler, and who impregnated the Virgin Mary in the Bible? And by that logic, Battler is God! (it's certainly more supportable than "small bombs")* [[{{Everyone is Jesus In Purgatory}} Everyone is God in Meta World]].* [[@/{{Oyashenron}} OP]] here. Just to expand on my opening theory, I don't think Sakutaro is Jesus. He's more of a Joseph figure. I'd assume we haven't seen the Jesus analogue yet. As for God, they mention the actual God in the text multiple times, so maybe... bare with me now... [[{{InsaneTrollLogic}} GOD IS GOD!]]

[[WMG: Kinzo isn't dead.]]In episode 4, it's stated that someone else can be recognized as Kinzo. If this is so, that person could be the Kinzo who is dead before the beginning of each game. Whoever they are, the real Kinzo is impersonating them or has paid an outsider to do so. It's most easily applicable if the dead Kinzo is Kanon or Shannon since the (mostly jossed, but not impossible) Shkanon theory could support this. If Kinzo is alive, he could be the one who caused the massacre in the dining hall in Alliance, thus making it easier to believe that his children believed it was him. Think about it, how willing would you be to accept some random person was the successor to your DisappearedDad?* Explain the scene with Natsuhi, Genji, Kumasawa, and Kinzo's body in [=EP5=]. The significance is this is where Natsuhi gets the idea of pretending that Kinzo is still alive.* Maybe Kinzo is pretending to be Genji?** That's what I was thinking. It makes the most sense since Genji delivers the will of Kinzo and spends a good deal of time in the study. If this is so, I assume the other servants (other than Gohda and maybe Kumasawa) are in on it. Nobody else sees much of Genji, and they've only ever seen Kinzo bearded, so clean shaven with different hair and some concealing make-up and it's plausible to think that nobody would notice Genji and Kinzo being swapped.* Wasn't it states the Kinzo was dead, in red. And that no one could pass off as the real Kinzo?** Yes, however Battler proposed that the name Kinzo was given to whoever was the head of the family (thus explaining how everyone at the family conference recoginized Kinzo's existence in the fourth game). If his theory is correct whoever was the head before Kinzo would also be named Kinzo.

[[WMG: The whole thing is due to Bernkastel and other witches achieving MediumAwareness and wanting to lash out at [[YouBastard Us Bastards]].]]In the Tanabata side story, when Bernkastel goes to [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor grant a wish]], she repeatedly addresses the audience, belittling us and accusing us of ''wanting'' to see her twist wishes about horribly and do terrible, horrific things with her magic. This isn't just a YouBastard attack, however: ''it's her MotiveRant''. After the hell all the Rikas were put through in Higurashi, Bernkastel gained MediumAwareness and came to realize that everything that happened ''was for our amusement''. So she can write off her being a CompleteMonster as just PanderingToTheBase, with the intent of giving us all a ''massive'' HeelRealization and sending us into a shared BSOD. And anyone who ''doesn't'' go into a BSOD upon [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the revelation]] are just proving that HumansAreBastards.* I fell in love with her at that point.* [[color:red:I do not watch to see someone do such murders, or grant evil wishes. I watch to see one who commits such actions be CAUGHT!]]** [[EvilCannotComprehendGood How could we expect her to understand this?]] If you underwent such a horrible ordeal, only to learn it was for somebody's entertainment... how likely would ''you'' be willing to listen to anyone claim they didn't mean any harm, or that they were on ''your'' side the whole time?

[[WMG: [[{{UminekoNoNakuKoroNi}} Umineko]] is to Ryukishi07 what [[{{NeonGenesisEvangelion}} Evangelion]] was to Hideaki Anno.]]Think about it; Evangelion deconstructed the mecha anime upon which it was based, while Umineko clearly deconstructs most of the tropes present in Higurashi. They both include YouSuck and YouBastard moments along with serious {{mindscrew}} and meta segments. Also, you really can't deny that some CreatorBreakdown is going on, what with BT's death and all. * But Umineko's been doing that since it started, and BT didn't die until a month before the fifth game came out.** Who is BT? (Doesn't know all the terminology, nicknames, or names behind the series.)*** BT was Ryukishi07's best friend, and the entire reason the WhenTheyCry franchise exists. Ryukishi07 originally wrote HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi for him.

[[WMG: The real (meta-)reason why everyone's rich...]]After the True Ending, Battler [[TimeTravel goes back to]] AncientRome [[YouWillBeBeethoven and becomes]] {{Plautus}}, where he uses the events of the final loop as the basis for ''ThePotOfGold''. He then becomes meta-Battler somehow, and uses the events of the rest of the series to write the lesser-known (but more accurate) ''TheAristocrats''. Over time, ''TheAristocrats'' is corrupted through MemeticMutation from a fantasy/mystery/romance/whatever about repeated murders and a BigScrewedUpFamily into [[DeadBabyComedy the joke we all know]]. Hence the plot reason for all the money; he couldn't call it "The Aristocrats" if it wasn't about ''aristocrats''.

[[WMG: Maria is Kinzo's daughter.]]Because he's a bastard. That'd also explain why Rosa is so broken. That doesn't mean that she's the murderer though.* That's probably the most likely explanation. Otherwise, why would Rosa be such a freak and why would she react so strongly to mentions of Maria's father?** Because he's her fiance, who ditched her after knocking her up. Even without invoking any other secrets, that's shameful to a lot of women, especially in Eastern cultures. There's also the possibility that our non-Kinzo mystery father raped her. Frankly, I don't imagine that Kinzo would touch Rosa unless he mistook her for Beatrice...but then she does have a connection to her...and the Supernatural Narrative says that Kinzo's black blood runs strongest in Maria...and Rosa and Beatrice seem to be a typical child's dissociation scenario of dividing a mother into pure good and pure evil beings. Uh oh, I think I just undercut my own argument.

[[WMG:Kanon was the person who went to the rose garden in disguise and brought Maria the umbrella and letter in Episode One]]It's not a very supportable hypothesis, because all of the servants had chances to disguise themselves as Beatrice and deliver those articles to Maria, but Kanon has some unique quirks to his alibi that make this theory fun. Kanon is told, by Genji, to fetch the the cousins in the guesthouse. Kanon passes through the rainy garden not far from where Maria is searching for her rose. Battler thinks to himself that it would be far more convenient for Kanon if he could have called the guesthouse on the phone, instead of tromping out in the rain. Kanon mentions opening his umbrella and running as fast as he could, but whether or not he's holding an umbrella when he gets to the cousins is left ambiguous. * Besides that, he could have been carrying two umbrellas when he initially went out.

[[WMG:Okonogi is the true culprit.]]We know from Higurashi that Okonogi is a very clever and influential man. He out-xanatos'd Takano for God's sake! Looking at Umineko, Okonogi has a lot to gain from the deaths of the Ushiromiyas. He could get a payout from the Sumaderas for finishing off their greatest rivals, and the Ushiromiya fortune would fall under his control until Ange was of age. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say he might have paid off one of the Ushiromiyas to betray the rest, or used a trick in the counting of the people on the island to sneak in a few Yamainu to assassinate the key players at the right points to make it appear Beatrice had commited the crime. He then has his forces bomb the mansion, eliminating any remaining survivors. He then sends Amakusa (Yamainu himself) to gain the trust of Ange and eventually snipe her. * [[color:red:Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented. Furthermore, Knox 1st. It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story.]]** [[color:blue:Knox's Rules may not apply, because it has not been stated in Gold that this is a Knox-observant Mystery.]]** [[color:red:Umineko is a part of the larger story known as "WhenTheyCry", which also incorporates Higurashi. Higurashi is before Umineko, both chronologically and in publication order. Okonogi was introduced in Higurashi.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Okonogi was introduced in the early part of the story]]. As for the "clues not presented" part... I got nothing.*** [[color:red:Okonogi did not debut in ''Umineko'' until [=EP4=]!]] [[color:blue:I propose that "the early part of the story" in the context that Knox's 1st is used in refers to [=EP1=], therefore, Okonogi has been ruled out as the culprit by Knox's 1st!]]

[[WMG: All the murders were done by a witch, using her witch magic]]Bear with me a moment...* [[color:red:Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]]** Prove that Knox's Decalogue is in effect! Say it in Red!*** That I can't say, but I can guarantee that since [[color:red:Higurashi did not end with all the murders having been done by Oyashiro-sama,]] [[color:blue:there is no way Ryuukishi07 will give us such a lame troll ending for Umineko.]]*** [[color:blue:Knox's rules were never in effect for Higurashi.]]**** [[color:red:Ryukishi is also one of the biggest troll ever]].**** False dichotomy! [[color:red:Ryukishi07 has already stated that he will not use the same plot device for Umineko,]] [[color:blue:but that does not mean that this is a Mystery!]] [[color:red:Battler has an entire scene dedicated to proving that this may not be the case in Episode 5's ????, before his ascension.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, I propose that this is not Mystery, but merely Anti-Fantasy.]]**** Yup, pure Fantasy or pure Mystery is boring, and not Umineko-ish. I suspect that magic is just a representation of different values (this doesn't apply to kakera magic, though). Anti-Fantasy all the way, but boo pro-mystery.*** [[color:red:It was never stated in Red or Gold that Knox's Decalogue is or is not in effect.]] [[color:red:However, for Knox's Decalogue to '''truly''' be in effect, it '''MUST''' be stated in Gold, for the only one who can apply Knox's Decalogue to the game is the Game Master.]] Otherwise, it can simply be a certain interpretation based on Dlanor's involvement and her recitals of the Decalogue in Red. [[color:blue:So long as it is never proclaimed in Gold that "Knox's Decalogue applies to this game as a Mystery", violations of the Decalogue are permissible since the Game Master never confirmed that Knox's Decalogue applied to the game. I propose that Beato never designed her game as a Mystery. Alternatively, if she '''did''' design it as a Mystery, then she either did not know of Knox's Decalogue, or chose not to have it apply to her game.]]**** [[color:blue:Wrong. While Gold Truth may be usable only by the Game Master, statements of fact about rules and premises may be made in red and counted as accurate, at least FromACertainPointOfView.]] (For example, I can say [[color:red:"All red text is true from some perspective"]] or list the victory conditions in red, and it is inarguably true despite being a rule) [[color:blue:Furthermore, simple membership in Knox's Decalogue does not grant a rule special status as far as applying or not applying unless otherwise stated.]] For instance, I can say [[color:red:"There were no Chinamen in Higurashi, therefore it obeys Knox 5"]] despite Higurashi explicitly breaking other Knox rules.***** [[color:red:Gold is said to sometimes be inferior to Red, but can sometimes be '''superior'''.]] Plus, the whole "absolute validity" thing mentioned on Umineko's Wiki. [[color:blue:But even then, you did not prove that the game was constructed around the Decalogue!]]****** [[color:blue:Requiring that I prove that the game was deliberately and intentionally constructed around the Decalogue would qualify as a Devil's Proof, as I cannot know the mindset of its creator at the time of its creation. I can, however, say that ]] [[color:red: because anything in red is true,]] [[color:blue:any rule of the Decalogue spoken in red applies to the story-- even if just coincidentally (Knox's 5th can easily apply to stories not meant to follow the Decalogue) and only FromACertainPointOfView (Knox's 2nd can only apply to an Anti-Fantasy stance)-- unless it is qualified with "If this story obeys the Decalogue" or the like. This is true even if the story is not a Mystery, as even stories without Mystery elements can have culprits and detectives, or as they are more frequently termed in such stories, killers and heroes.]]******* The statement that "[[color:red:Anything in red is true]]" can only apply if all involved believe it. [[color:red:As such, while it is a valid viewpoint, and shouldn't simply be shifted aside, it also should not be taken as absolutely true, with any conflicting facts being lies or woven by outside deception,]] [[color:blue:as that borderlines religious belief, and]], as stated in a WMG further up, [[color:red:neither the Red Truth nor the Golden Truth can be used to verify the existence of a supernatural entity]] [[color:blue:beyond affirming that the speaker believes the words they're saying. Thus, the Golden Truth could possibly '''not''' work in that case, while the Red Truth would, since, in order to stand, it requires belief that it is true.]] (Most of the blue statements are due to possible misinterpretations or possible mistaken beliefs. I could be completely wrong, or simply looking at it the wrong way.)*** [[ReadingRainbow This WMG is becoming]]... '''[[IncrediblyLamePun A READING RAINBOW]]!'''**** [[color:green:ReadingRainbow was a show the enocouraged children to read.]]***** A-are we sure that it's a good idea to encourage children to read by throwing Umineko at them? "See spot. See spot run. Run spot run. See spot get his goddamn face smashed in with gardening tools and see Spot locked in the shed. See spot get into a metaphorical battle of wits with a witch that may or may not exist. Run spot run."** Who cares whether Knox decalogue applies or not? Knox's second states that the ''detective'' cannot use magic. It does not prevent the culprit from being a magical witch. [[color:red:This theory does not contradict the Decalogue.]]

[[WMG:The statement "The games between Beatrice and Battler Ushiromiya adhere to Knox's Decalogue as Mysteries" must be stated in Gold to truly rule out possibilities that violate the Decalogue.]]After all, hasn't Red been confirmed as being a subjective truth, which can be used if the statement is literally true from at least one given perspective? [[color:blue:Therefore, the only possible way to truly rule out the possibilities that were countered with the Decalogue is to proclaim it in Gold that the games followed the Decalogue, and thus, recitals of the Decalogue can be transferred from Red Truth to Gold Truth.]]* Actually, if we read the novels more accurately, we can notice that it is often said in red that "X goes against Knox's Decalogue!". But the other necessary logical step, "These events all follow Knox's Decalogue!" is never stated in red or gold. Therefore, we know that a number of things happen that run counter to Knox's Decalogue, but this might well be meaningless in the context of Rokkenjima of Knox's Decalogue isn't followed.** (OP here.) Precisely. How do we know that the Decalogue is '''absolute''' in this game? Until it is verified in Gold, [[color:gold:citing the Decalogue is fair game, and ignoring the citations of the Decalogue is permitted.]]

[[WMG: It's the servants]]Ok, this isn't as spectacular as many of the other theories on this page, and it's easy enough to poke holes in, but I'm throwing it out there anyway. We all know that Kinzo was obsessed with reviving Beatrice, and would be quite happy to sacrifice his family if he thought it would bring her back, but he's far too busy being dead to be responsible for the murders. This, however, doesn't stop him from leaving instructions for his furniture detailing the ceremony that needs to be carried out. Genji is repeatedly stated as being incredibly loyal to his master, and believing he would kill for him is not a stretch. Shannon and Kannon were both raised in an Uroshimiya-run orphanage and have been brainwashed to the point that they don't even see themselves as human. Getting them to kill and/or die for their master would not be hard. It's unlikely that Kumosawa is in on it, and Gohda almost certainly isn't, but the fact remains that three people working together, all possessing master keys and an intimate knowledge of the island, could explain many of the twilights. They aren't necessarily responsible for every murder, only the more ritualistic ones, with the more crazy/opportunistic family members capitalising on the deaths to eliminate a few loose ends of their own. They choose their victims at random, and if they themselves are selected (notably episode 3) then they offer themselves, confidant that the ritual will continue as their master predicted. Other theories can still apply (i.e. Shannon faking her death in episode 1 so she can continue the ritual - episode 3 apparently shows only five sacrifices are needed, Kannon giving up his identity in episode 2 and perhaps turning on the other servants etc).

[[WMG: Nanjo is the murderer for the Episode 3]]The first twilight is conducted by Nanjo. The reason is simple. Only servants, Krauss, Natsuhi, Nanjo, and perhaps Jessica know Kinzo is dead. The servants are dead. Jessica is with her cousins playing cards. And Natsuhi and Krauss are discussing the issue of who is actually Beatrice. He can only be Nanjo. In addition, Nanjo ensures appear just as they leave the meeting all the brothers. I suspect that Jessica helped. That and the mobile Nanjo I explain later.

The second twilight is also borne out by Nanjo. Nanjo was at the top of the stairs, so quietly he could accompany Rosa and Maria to give him air to the child. Once out of he kill them.

Nanjo leaves a cigarette in the room of Eva and Hideyoshi to throw suspicion. Kyrie falls into the trap. Nanjo follows Kyrie, Rudolf and Hideyoshi to the mansion and he killed them by treachery. Prepare all the stakes stuff and return to the guesthouse. However, Kyrie has only been hit in the stomach, so he is not dead, just lost consciousness from the shock. This is shown by the fact that Ronove refuses to confirm that all three are dead in red.

After finding the bodies, George is very upset and decides to go to Shannon for the last time. Nanjo sees out the window and close the latch of the window to hide that fact. Take advantage Natsuhi and Krauss are alone to kill them. Probably he first drug them or something, to not resist and then strangle them. He then goes to the room where the body of Shannon is and kill George.

In the last part, when they discover the bodies of Natsuhi and Krauss, Eva runs off in search of George. The number of the door should be a message between the murderers. That's why I suspect that Jessica is complicated as it is the other person alive who knows the secret of Kinzo. When Eva and Battler then run out after she that hurts Jessica, Jessica and Nanjo are left. Whoever shoots Nanjo is Kyrie, who regains consciousness and decides to kill the murderer to save Battler. Kyrie then bleeds to death. When Eva discovers Nanjo is dead, Eva concludes that the murderer must be Battler, and so kills him.

Now the mobile of Nanjo. Nanjo is silent on the death of Krauss for the simple reason that they need to pay an expensive operation to save his granddaughter. However, Krauss has already lost all the money in the family business, and the only money left on the island is gold. Nanjo discovers that fact on the day of the conference. The problem is you can not extract the gold from the island without anyone noticing, so your only option is to kill them all and then take the gold.

And about Eva-Beatrice... after the massacre happen, Eva feels very remorseful because: 1 - has killed Battler but then she doubt that he is the murderer, and 2 - In his heart he wanted the rest died to win gold medal. So believes the witch inside the murders committed in its place.

* I'd agree on Nanjo as the murderer, but would make a couple of changes:

** Nanjo didn't need to place the cigarette in Eva and Hideyoshi's room. Hideyoshi really was making an alibi for Eva, but it was while she searched for the gold instead of while she murdered Rosa and Maria - we got that part of the story in AnachronicOrder, and Kyrie was correct in deducing Hideyoshi was alone in the room. Eva just couldn't tell about the gold when she came back because she'd look guilty of Rosa's murder since she had no alibi.

** Kyrie, Rudolph and Hideyoshi were dead at the time we saw them (eight hours or so is an awful long time to survive bleeding out from a wound that looked fatal). The reason Ronove couldn't proclaim them dead in red was to draw attention away from the fact that Krauss, Natsuhi and George were also not proclaimed dead in red until after Nanjo's murder. Krauss and Natsuhi were killed by strangulation, which isn't really something that could kill them later to fit the red text if they weren't already dead. George was the one who killed Nanjo, then died of his wounds. He brought Jessica back with him to the parlour before dying. Jessica died there too from something that Nanjo had done to her (possibly even just giving her an [[ChekhovsGun asthma inhaler]] with nothing in it while she's having trouble breathing). When Battler accuses Eva of being the murderer, they're standing in the parlour, and the reason he's suddenly convinced it was her is that Jessica is lying there dead, with the only mark on her being where Eva shot and blinded her earlier. Eva, who's aware that for almost every murder she has no alibi, has been starting to doubt her sanity. Believing herself to have killed Jessica, and knowing that everyone else on the island is dead, she agrees when Battler says she must be the murderer, and kills him, a victim of temporary insanity.

** Nanjo's motive is that he's being paid by the Sumaderas. If all the Ushiromiyas die, Ange becomes the sole inheritor of the estate, the Sumaderas take custody of her, and the Ushiromiya fortune is theirs. Bernkastel makes note that Ange is always sick on the 3rd and never accompanies the family. She tries to justify this as being before the cut-off of Beatrice's game board, but the witches have been very cagey on whether everything is the same at the start of the games or not - the only other thing said for definite to always be the same is Kinzo's death. The real reason for this is that the Sumaderas arranged that Ange be sick. The number on the door of the parlour is the account number for the bank that had money for Nanjo's son. George somehow discovered what was going on, and painted the number there after he was injured. Regaining consciousness to discover Nanjo leading a blinded Jessica somewhere alone, he set out to save her.

[[WMG: The Siestas are/were/know [[{{Touhou}} The Prismriver Sisters]]]]* Not seeing the connection. Can you explain, please?** (Respondent here.) Why does my request for an explanation keep getting deleted?

[[WMG: Erika Furudo is a distant descendant of [[{{Agatha Christie}} Hercule Poirot]]]]Crime-solving runs in the family. Also, between the arrogance and the talk of "little grey cells", I found it easy to see her as a less amiable relative of Poirot's.* Impossible, she's clearly a relation of [[{{TheRedGreenShow}} Red Green]].* Objection: Her complete insanity means that she must be related to Professor Moriarty.** [[AceAttorney OBJECTION!]] [[color:gold:Professor Moriarty was not a detective!]] [[color:red:If Erika Furudo was related to him, she would be a criminal, not a detective!]] [[color:blue:You must have been thinking of SherlockHolmes, who was a detective!]]*** [[color:red:Being related to a criminal does not automatically make one a criminal.]]**** [[color:red:She would have been brought up in that kind of lifestyle, hence my previous statement.]] Besides, [[color:blue:she's not insane.]] [[color:gold:She's just a bitch.]]

[[WMG: EVA/Eva-Beatrice is [[IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream [=AM=]]] as a [[MoeAnthropomorphism cute girl.]]]]Let's see:* Imposes ironic, fantastic tortures on her victims, check.* Forces the one person who pisses her off the most into a FateWorseThanDeath, check.* Are beings of pure hatred, check.

[[WMG: Kanon and Shannon are murderers in the Episode 1]]The first twilight is conducted by Shannon. She shots the 5 ones, but her gun explodes and destroy her face. Then Kanon destroy the faces of the other to hide this fact. The original plan was likely to kill all adults, but because Natsuhi locked her bedroom and Eva and Hideyoshi were gone... they make the crime look like the sacrifices to revive Beatrice.

The second twilight is conducted by Kanon. He cut the chain, kills Hideyoshi and Eva while Genji or Nanjo draw the circle. Then the act like they didn't know Kinzo is dead.

The forth and fifth twilight were Kanon faking his dead. He just have to use red paint into his chest. Then Nanjo "certifies" his death. The Kinzo's corpse probably was planted before killing Eva and Hideyoshi. The reason that Kanon fakes his death is to been away from Natsuhi survillance and kill her by surprise.

The sixth, seventh and eighth twilight were realized by Kanon. He kills Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa. He is the "Beatrice" that Maria told the others about.

Regarding Natsuhi's death, she was killed by Kanon. He needs her to be separated from the group to do this. Probably in order to avoid Jessica being implicated. He separates her with the letter and shots her.

[[WMG: Kinzo is a child molester]]We know that Kinzo have a girl being locked in Kuwadorian. After she is dead, he tries to ressurect her. This "resurrect" means to seek for other childrens that look like Beatrice, make dress like her and the rape their. This is probably what might happen to Kanon and Shannon. We have the following clues:

* Erika proposes in Episode 5 that Natsuhi dressed up like Beatrice to seduce Kinzo.* Kinzo donates a lot of money to an orphanage.* He adopted a lot of this orphans as servants. Too suspicious for someone who locked up a girl all her life.* In Episode 2 it seems that Kanon is the "Beatrice" that repairs Maria's candy.* Kanon obsession of being "just furniture". Kinzo made something really gross to him.

Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa were the ones that take care of this child in Kuwadorian and were "her parents", because for Kinzo, Beatrices is her lover, not her daugther. Because Beatrice died and also because of the attitude of Kinzo, they look after for revenge. In fact, Genji, Kumasawa and Nanjo are the demons Ronove, Virgilia and Gaap who helped Beatrice.

However, Kinzo died before Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa could have a revenge. So they enforce their revenge on Kinzo's children, who probably knew about his secret. In fact in Episode 1 it said something like "Everyone knew the secret Kinzo's hobby". This could be his black magic hobby or... the things he done to the servants.

About Beatrice nature, she is the clamor asking for justice of all the orphans raped and abused by Kinzo with the consent of his children. That's why in Episode 5, when Battler reach the truth, he supports Beatrice.* Kanon and Shannon look nothing like any Beatrice. [[color:red:Due to Battler's sin many humans on Rokkenjima die.]]Thus, whatever the culprit's motives are they are centered around Battler not Kinzo. Also, if Nanjo, Genji, and Kumasawa knew about this, why didn't they tell the police?

[[WMG: Jessica's band isn't the only {{Touhou}} ShoutOut]]Other than Jessica dressed as [[CuteWitch Marisa Kirisame]] in her band, there are other {{Touhou}} references. The [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Siestas]] are all [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of [[EverythingsBetterWithBunnies Reisen Udongein Inaba]] and Gaap is an Expy of [[RealityWarper Yukari Yakumo]].* On the NINTH twilight, the witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive. Therefore, Beatrice summons the strongest and most intelligent furniture, Cirno, to finish off the murders in every game.* Going by this, it could be stated that the ultimate goal of the game is to crush the Hakurei border and bring Rokkenjima into Gensokyo. Where that island is going to go is a mystery unto itself.** And let's not forget that Lambadelta bears a striking resemblance to Flandre Scarlet.

[[WMG: The Golden Butterflies are nanomachines in blood stream reaching the brain.]]Kinzo, being a genius in the stock market, invested in nanomachine technology when he learned of his cancer, and secretly had a lab in the other mansion. Beatrice is the codename of the nanomachine project and the nanomachines were set loose by accident. The Golden butterflies illusion are a side effect of the nanomachines attacking the body. The Japanese government sealed of the island to take over the research. The pioneering work set by Kinzo's investment led to the events in the CowboyBebop Movie.* Clark's Third Law is cheating and not allowed, according to Lambdadelta.** I think you meant Knox's 4th. Besides, I did not mention that they were killed by nanomachines but rather that the golden butterflies they see at times are merely caused by the nanomachines messing up with their brains. *** I meant what I said. Anyway, things like nanomachines or drugs that cause hallucinations has been denied in Red. [[color:red:No such drug EXISTS. It must not EXIST.]]**** Only because it's forbidden by Knox's Decalogue! [[color:blue:I propose that Knox's Decalogue does not apply to Beato's game!]]

[[WMG: It is possible for information given in red to be objectively false.]]Because any given scene might just be a hallucination, we have no way of knowing that anything said was actually ever spoken. Do we have any way of knowing for sure that red text can't be hallucinated? For that matter, [[GirlGenius maybe this is all just some absinthe-fueled ]][[strike:[[GirlGenius scientific romance]]]] fantastic mystery nightmare [[AllJustADream Battler's having]]* No, it is not allowed for Battler's perspective to be hallucinated, falsified, misinterpreted, or otherwise wrong. As the Detective, the narrative is bound to make him reliable so that the player can construct the mystery. Therefore, Battler's perspective in the Meta-World is 100% reliable.** Except in [=EP5=]. when he's not the detective but Erika. *** Well, yes, on the Gameboard, atleast. Either way, the Meta-World can be taken at face value, due to it's role as a narrative device.

[[WMG: Erika can't detect her way out of a paper bag]]She's an actress, hired to put the screws on Natsuhi. Kyrie feeds her her lines.

Seriously, people like that don't exist in real life.* [[SayonaraZetsubouSensei Yes. How could a Great Detective, something I've only seen in fiction, possibly exist? She must be an actress!]]

[[WMG: [[{{Illuminatus}} There is no enemy anywhere]]]]Beatrice scapegoats herself to spare the family. Lambda is Beatrice's patron, and therefore complicit in her secret and terrible innocence. Bern talks a good game, but only seems to take actions that force Batter into a deeper understanding of himself. Dlanor is an unshakable pillar of moral character in a crooked world.

Hang on. We've no villains left; just a cast of actors in the make-Battler-a-better-person psychodrama.

[[WMG: Any letter claiming to be from Beatrice, that isn't checked against Maria's diary is a forgery.]]Maria claims she meets Beatrice everytime she comes to Rokkenjima. Furthermore, her diary contains a bit of Beatrice's handwriting. The message bottles and money letters contain the same hand writing, and thus it is reasonable to assume they were written by the person Maria calls Beatrice. On the other hand Maria initially mistakes EVA for Beato, meaning its likely that anyone could claim to be Beatrice and she'd believe them (unless they acted too differntly from Beato) and thus believe that anything they gave her was from Beatrice. To summerize, the money letters and message bottles were written by the person Maria meets every year, and everything else is written by another person or persons.

[[WMG: EVA is and always has been the BigBad]]The mirror that prevented Beato from regaining her powers was created to seal the various evil spirits on Rokkenjima. These spirits eventually fused into one being, the black witch/EVA. However, at that point she was only able to influence people, in order to be able to directly interact with the world she needed people to commit murder on Rokkenjima and thus manipulated the killer(s) into killing the victims.* ...Doesn't that go against the "No magic is responsible for the murders" thing? Also, what does this make Lambda and Bern?** It does go against "No magic is responsible for the murders", and is thus Pro-Fantasy. However, it is not inheriently Anti-Mystery, since it only attributes the killer(s) motive to magic, the actual crimes had to be carried out via mundane means.** As for Lambda and Bern, they are simply Voyagers. Lambda's position is Anti-EVA, as long as the games remain tied EVA will be unable to directly interact with the world. This is most strongly supported by episode 3 where any conclusive result would of lead to EVA's victory If Battler proves the culprit is human, then she becomes able to interact with world due to the above. If he accepts that the culprit is Beatrice, she becomes able to interact with the world since at that point she is Beatrice. Bern's position is Pro-EVA, if someone proves the culprit is human then EVA becomes able to interact with the world.

[[WMG: Maria is the mastermind, but she has an accomplice.]]* Motive: The FreudianExcuse taken to a logical extreme; Everyone knows of Rosa's abuse of Maria, but is either doing nothing about it or actively covering it up. And Maria found out about the cover-up. Maria, not exactly of sound mind, decides to exterminate the family that has betrayed her.* Opportunity: Well, duh.* Means: Ah, that's the rub. Maria lacks the size or strength to do it all herself, but someone has become TheAtoner in regards to Maria and is actively helping her, and that person is Eva. Her maternal instincts (coupled with her disgust with her relatives) convinces her to join Maria's side... sort of. Plus, Maria knows about black magic almost as much as Kinzo. * [=EP1=]: Eva is the one who put the bodies in the storehouse. Maria did all the rest. Eva gets second thoughts about it all so Maria disposes of the only one who could expose her. Maria is the lone survivor.* [=EP2=]: Eva bails on the plan from the onset, so Maria dispatches her as a part of the first twilight. Maria is the lone survivor, killing Rosa last when Maria's inner AgentScully causes her to realize her happy paradise with mama is only a fantasy.* [=EP3=]: Everything goes according to plan. Maria's death is faked. Compared to the other murders, Maria's is remarkably tame. Eva leaves the island alone while Maria stays behind alone.* [=EP4=]: Same as [=EP2=], except now Maria has access to a firearm and decides she doesn't need help afterall. Maria is the lone survivor.

* Then again, it could be a different person playing the role of Maria's accomplice in each episode.

* Maria is not Beatrice's piece. Beatrice is Maria's piece. Hence Maria's total reversal of luck between the first four games and the last two.

** It is confirmed in Red that Maria's deaths are never faked, and that she is not a murderer.

[[WMG: Beatrice's Game does NOT follow the rules of Knox.]]After all, it would be ENTIRELY within Beatrice's character to have the 'detective' be the criminal, considering that she is obsessed with revealing people's sins. In addition, she has ALREADY violated one of the rules, the one on secret passages. There was no way for Battler to discover the passage to Beatrice's Mansion, since the way was locked. Most of theories with Shannon/Kanon rely on violating the rule about doubles. Even the 'demon' trick violates that, if barely. * It's confirmed that this isn't a Knox game, but [[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit]] either way.** How do we know that Virgilia was talking about [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090610211718/umineko/images/e/ec/Battler.jpg this guy]]? Was it stated in Gold that she meant him? For all we know, [[color:blue:she could have been talking about the other Battler, whom Natsuhi supposedly killed in her backstory.]] * Excellent. This, however, leaves open 'mistaken identity' and such...Now, to go through a list of family members and verify THEY are not the culprit!

[[WMG: If this is a mystery, the servants MUST be the killer.]]Each of the servants perfectly lines up with one of the demons. The character sheets explain which. Thus, it seems reasonable that if this is a mystery, they MUST be the servants in disguise, otherwise there is no way to solve it. Admitedly, it is BARELY possible that Gaap is either Nanjo, or possibly Hideyoshi, since those are the two least-developed characters.* Definitely Nanjo. Hideyoshi can't "make evidence disappear" like Nanjo and Gaap can. This is, of course, assuming that the demons aren't just total allegories for non-living forces, such as guns, anyway.

[[WMG: Umineko X is the arc after the Good End.]]After all players reconcile, Beatrice gets revived, and Battler solves the mystery and finds the gold, he cracks open one of the ingots to find that Kinzo hid his stash in them. The entire family gets really baked, and he offers Beatrice a hit. While everyone's stoned out of their gourds, someone mentions a fun game idea they had and Beato agrees that it might be interesting; Bern mentions that she knew someone who might want to tag along...* To expand on this: Using several [=WMGs=] above, there are ten arcs, including ''Episode X''. In the ninth arc, Beatrice is revived in a way that merges the gameboard with the Meta-World, meeting the requirement that "At the ninth twilight, the witch will be revived and none will be left alive". Bernkastel reveals that she knew this would happen, using the magic of miracles to make sure that Beatrice would survive. She then explains that a)she wanted a good story, b)she was calling the audience out, or c)she was prodding Battler into action so that he'd solve the riddle. They then throw a massive celebration and Battler drops one of the ingots, cracking it open.

The only ones that you can argue with are delusions, hallucinations, and silliness, and you can make a strong case for them as well. This would be even more interesting if you are pro-fantasy, as it would make her a creator witch as well.

[[WMG: Maria has created the story]]Maria's powers as a creator witch are far outside her control. Note that she had drawn pictures of all the witches starting from the first arc. She could very well have created all the witches. If this was the case, truly defeating the witches would be done by causing Maria to deny the beings she created, just as her mother denied and destroyed Sakutaro. Not only would this be extremely, painfully ironic, it would also tie into 07ths use of decoy protagonist.* Makes sense if you completely overlook that the story has to do with something that Battler forgot he had done 6 years ago, when Maria was...three. She doesn't remember Battler at all, let alone some promise he had failed to keep. Still, it would make sense if Maria only created the first two arcs and [=AuAu=] had somehow found out about them and wrote everything afterwards.** It's possible for an action to affect someone indirectly, for example; [[color:blue: Battler did something six years ago that caused Maria's father to leave Rosa, causing her anguish. Furthermore Battler would not even have to be aware that he caused the breakup.]]** It's possible that we misinterpret the time frame the story takes place in, for example; [[color:blue: Battler is really Kinzo, senile and dying, and Maria is his wife telling him stories, distortions of their own lives, to coax the identity of his mistress out of him before he passes.]]

[[WMG: The are two culprits in the story.]]There's the true mastermind, the one behind at least the killings of at least [=EP1=]. And there's also [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi The Shion]] of the story, someone else who also go goes on a killing spree because of some form of trigger. Therefore, using every game as a means to determine the original culprit is foolish.

I suspect [=EP3=] is one of the red herrings, as it doesn't follow the epitaph past the first twilight, and Maria's death could be the trigger for somebody else's RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Though [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi The Shion]] is not necessarily Eva.

[[WMG: The previous game between Bernkastel and Lambdadelta was similar to, but distinct from the events of HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi.]]Yukiwatashi-hen reveals that Hanyuu looped the live's of multiple Rika, and Bernkastel's profile note's that she is also called "the witch who knows that miracles don't occur", yet she was somehow able to beat Lamdadelta. [[color:blue: Bern was killed by Rule X far more often then Rika was, because of this she decided that the best way to survive was to kill her friends (and when that failed her friends and random persons) before they could kill her. In her final arc the people she killed included Takano thus [[PyrrhicVictory winning the game]] without a miracle.]]

[[WMG: Some Red Truth is not the literal truth, but are instead metaphors.]]Let's play with this and return to the second twilight of [=EP2=]. When "[[color:red:When Jessica's corpse was discovered]]" was said, it could be meant the corpse made by Jessica was found there, not her actual body. Plus only Kanon is explictly stated to have been killed in Jessica's room in red, the same is not said about Jessica. Nor it is ever said two people died in her room in red. Taking all this into account, theoretically, the dead body found in her room could have been Kanon's, not Jessica's. Obviously, this thinking implies Jessica is Beatrice. And there are other ways to rethink the situations.

[[WMG: Battler's endless nine magic cancel is due to the charm Maria gave him. ]]Maria said the scorpion had the power to block magic. If the charm works, then that overlapping with or magnifying Battler's natural AntiMagic would result in this.* This might make a fun ChekhovsBoomerang. * Battler gives someone the scorpion* "Ha! No such feeble charm can block this! We will kill [indistinct], and then we will kill Battler! * casts spell* What the...?"

[[WMG:Umineko is an open-source MMORPG in the Higurashi universe.]]Witches are mods, and the Game Master is the server admin.Beato's server, Rokkenjima, was originally an RP-heavy Modern Horror game, but then she decided she wanted to switch to UrbanFantasy. She announced this, and it was generally well-recieved, until Battler started ranting at her about how you can't GenreShift in mid-story without anything in the plot to indicate that it was coming up. They argued about it on the fora for a while (and a few of the others agreed with him), until Beato tried to shut Battler up by giving him mod priviliges and basically saying "okay, you're so good at this, ''you'' tell a story" as well as a sternly-worded lecture on what would happen if he abused his new powers. Naturally, with two authors arguing over which direction the story should take, things started getting wierd. Beato recruited Rika to help restore order without having to revert Battler's account, and she brought along a few other characters (including Takano's old character Lambdadelta, now played by Satoko). Beato eventually wound up meeting Battler IRL and they hit it off. After a while, Beato started running out of ideas and got the mods together so that she could figure out an excuse to give someone the admin account.* Ooh, interesting! If someone actually made this IRL, I would so totally play it!

[[WMG: The Ushiromiya family are literal bastards.]]This is based on the fact that Kinzo has six toes. Given that polydactyly is actually a ''dominant'' genetic trait (odd but true), the chances that none of his four children would have it are one in sixteen at best (if he's homozygous polydactyl [two genes for it], the odds drop to about zero).

[[WMG: [[RepoTheGeneticOpera Rotti Largo]] is a descendent of the Ushiromiya family.]]Hello, rich old villainous man who hates his family for being weak and only wanting his money, extols the values of gold, and wants to punish the woman he loves for getting away from him!

There's no way Kinzo and Rotti aren't related. This makes even more sense if Beatrice actually was Italian; Rotti just reached back to his mother's(?) heritage.

[[WMG: Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice]]As we all know and love, Ronove is AmbiguouslyGay, to the point where he bleeds freaking rose pedals

WordOfGod has stated repeatedly that looking at the game through just the mystery angle will not allow you to solve it, suggesting that even the scenes completely laden with fantasy have some important hint, be it evidence or characterization. One of the strongest elements of Ronove's characterization is the absurd amount of HoYay and loyalty he has for Battler, who is much like a younger, less crazy-as-a-fox Kinzo.

[[color:red:In [=EP4=], it's said that Genji is a sort of vessel for Ronove in the real world.]][[color:blue:This means that Genji and Ronove should share some of their major traits.]][[color:blue:If Ronove is a mirror of Genji, then Genji should be gay and attracted to someone similar to Battler]], such as Kinzo.

This train of logic suggests that the reason that Genji is so loyal to the Ushiromiya family is that he's madly in love with Kinzo.

If we take this a step further [[CrackPairing (And sprinkle crack lightly)]] we can note that [[color:red:Kinzo is a big freaking Misogynist]] [[color:blue:that thinks the only use women have at all is making babies and serving men.]] He couldn't truly love a woman even if he wanted to. He doesn't respect them. Without love, there is no magic.

But Genji appeared in his life. Genji served him quietly, respectfully, and was a man who was proud to serve. Kinzo saw not just a servant, but a servant and a friend. Someone who would be there for him. Someone who wouldn't tell anyone if they did anything questionable. Someone who loved him in the same sinful way. [[color:blue:Someone who would wear a Beatrice dress and wig while taking it from behind.]]

Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice.

* So then by extension, Genji gave Kinzo the original gold?** Potentially, but just as it's been practically confirmed the existance of more than one Beatrice(i.e. the 'Beatrice' that Rosa met as a child), it's more likely that Genji was the Beatrice that came after that, the Final Beatrice. Well, I guess ANGE is the Final Beatrice in the meta-world sense, but in the mystery-world sense Genji is.* To further this theory, I'd like to add that Genji explicitly states in EP 1 that the person in Beatrice's portrait looks strikingly alike to his grandmother, but only with blonde hair instead of black.

[[WMG:Beatrice is related to the Ushiromiya family, and is the daughter of Chiyo and Kinzo]]When Kinzo made a deal with Beatrice the witch, Beato wasn't in existence at the time. Virgilia appeared before Kinzo disguised with the appearance of Beato. The reason? Virgilia was really Chiyo and at the time was in love with Kinzo. Since Chiyo looked a lot like Virgilia when she was younger, she did not want it revealed to Kinzo that she was really a witch. Therefore, she used the appearance of her future daughter in her witch appearance to hide it.

Kinzo was very interested in the legends of witches, and Chiyo, secretly being one herself, shared this same interest with him. However, Virgilia's human appearance was that of a servant, the Ushiromiya family looked down upon such relationships. Their relationship was covered well, however, one day Chiyo ended up being pregnant. Kinzo then arranged another hidden mansion to be built with his wealth. When the Ushiromiya family came for visits, Chiyo remained in the mansion, under the guise that Kinzo let his servant take a vacation somewhere off the island for a year.

Chiyo then had a baby girl. The both of them decided to name her "Beatrice" after the Golden Witch that gave Kinzo his wealth. Later on, it is somehow revealed that Kinzo had such an affair with a servant. The other children of Kinzo reject Beatrice to be a part of the Ushiromiya family, and thus she is confinded to the other mansion on the island (at least during family meetings) where Chiyo had stayed when she was pregnant.

Beatrice was very sad and lonely. All she wanted in life was to have a family, go to a school like the other children did, and make friends. Taking after her parents, she became very interested in magic. She began believing that it really existed, and thus Virgilia (the current Beatrice at the time) appeared before her. Then Beatrice became Beatrice the Golden Witch. However, the human Beatrice and the witch Beatrice were different in appearance, which is why Kinzo does not recognize Beatrice in the portrait to be the same person.

With her new powers, she summoned up furniture that would play with her and she was happy for awhile. However, when she became a teen, her joy slowly faded. She realized that furniture would do anything she wanted to do, but they weren't anything like a real friend. If anything, it was like "imaginary" friends that only existed in your world and no one else's. She then lost interest in magic until she became an adult.

During her time as a young adult, she was still confined to the second mansion during visits. The adults told the younger members (which at this time was Eva, Rosa, Kruass, Rudolf) when they were little that a "witch" lived in the forest so they would not venture off and discover their other sibling. However, on one visit, [[spoiler: Rosa had discovered the mansion as a teen.]]

She then met Beatrice, and it was unknown to Rosa but known to Beatrice that they were siblings. [[spoiler: Rosa without malicious intent, had accidentally killed Beatrice (which was her falling off the cliff). Rosa was then mentally scarred from that day on. She tried to "forget" the accident, and replaced the image of the human Beatrice she killed with the witch's appearance, thus making it to where she recalls the incident,]] Beatrice is seen as the "witch in the forest".

Rosa's trauma has led her to become neglectful and abusive to Maria. I theorize that she lost her previous job, she had to resort to becoming a prostitute. She would then face more abuse by her "pimp" and clients. She hid it under the guise that she was on "business trips" when she was gone for days because she didn't want Maria to know how exactly she made money.

But isn't the Ushiromiya family wealthy? If you recall, Kinzo had stated that all this children failed him because he wanted them to make their own wealth, not leech off of his wealth. Therefore, it is believed that Kinzo was very stingy to sharing his money with his family.

Rosa truly wanted the best for Maria. However, after losing her previous job, which is assumedly an office job of some sorts, the "bad witch that took over mommy" started to appear. Maria, being neglected her mom's love and attention and due to bullying at school had left her to become very childish. Maria would throw tantrums and have several imaginary friends, namely Sakutaro. The very child-like, almost "sheltered" Maria distinctly reminded Rosa of Beatrice, which [[spoiler: reminded her of the manslaughter she commited.]] This is why when Maria resorts to child-like tatics (having Sakutaro "speak" for her, Going "uuu!" all the time), Rosa flips out and starts hitting her to try to make her stop.

All this time as her human appearance, Chiyo was infuriated with the Ushiromiya family on the fact that they didn't even acknowledge her daughter. After all, it was not Beatrice's fault she was born, and she shouldn't have been treated like how she was. Chiyo, switching to her witch form, Virgilia, appeared before Beatrice. She promised to revive Beatrice, however she must remain a witch. It is unknown to Beatrice that Virgilia is technically her mother, but she agrees to follow the condition, based on the fact that in her human appearance, she was rejected, but in her witch appearance, she can take revenge upon the family that rejected her, and she would be both feared and respected by them. Virgilia chooses to make her agree to this condition because she knows that if Beatrice remains as a human, she would return to the gullible, stupid Beatrice, who would continue to be rejected by her family.

When it comes close to Kinzo's death, Beatrice must be the one to carry out the witch's epitaph since she is the new Golden Witch. This is the main reason why Beatrice has become so cold towards the family and kills them in the harshest ways she can think of, excluding Maria. To Beatrice, Maria reminds her of her when she was younger, so surprisingly feels sorry for Maria.

Maria, like her, was rejected the love of a parent (Rosa for Maria, and Kinzo for Beatrice). The both of them were loners and relied on furniture to keep them company. Maria also tends to show high respect for Beatrice, despite Beatrice violently killing her family members. When it comes to the epitaph, it would appear Maria is usually one of the last ones to die, and when she dies, Beatrice tries to make it painless [[spoiler: (such as strangling her).]]

This is why Beatrice takes Maria under her wing like a mother figure. Beatrice didn't have any other friends other than furniture when she was little, so she hopes Maria will be happy with an actual human for a friend. However, Beatrice had to lie to Maria about Sakutaro. The reason she lied is because if she revived Sakutaro, she knew Maria would become attached to furniture, and then learn that furniture was nothing more that figments of imagination in the future. Beatrice then made up the story that Sakutaro could not be revived because Rosa rejected him. Thus, this is why [[spoiler: Ange was easily able to do it and Beatrice's lie was seen as if Beatrice was a really weak witch.]]

Like Maria as well, Beatrice hates Rosa. She believes that Rosa was always hateful, and that [[spoiler: Rosa purposely killed her when she was a human,]] simply because she thought Rosa knew they were related and that Rosa hated her like Kinzo.

Beatrice thus became nothing more than a killing machine, finding creative ways to use her magic to take revenge on this family. Even though many situations revealed it was obvious that magic caused the murders, Battler refused to believe it, making her interested in him. Perhaps the reason she insisted on this game was to get in touch with the relative she never knew.

This is the reason why I believe she truly felt sorry when Battler got angry and left the game. She really wanted to play a game with her relative, even if the game included her twisted humor. It is then in my belief at [[spoiler: the signing,]] the Beatrice there was not the true Beatrice, but Virgilia in disguise, or perhaps furniture disguised as Beatrice. Virgilia, unlike Beatrice, does not want to show ANY mercy for the Ushiromiya, because the simple fact that she got involved as Chiyo was what caused so much pain to her daughter. Virgilia didn't want to go behind her daughter's back, but in order to get revenge on the family, she had to use whatever means as possible to get Battler to accept that Beatrice is a witch.* [[color:red: Knox's 10th. It is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues.]]** Furthermore, doesn't Virgilia also show up at the contract signing, along with Beato?

[[WMG: Virgilia is Pendragon-sama]]Virgilia is noted to be on good terms with many beings of different kinds and the Siestas have worked with the EVA, Goldsmith, the Eiserne Jungfrau, Cupid, and of course Beato.** Additionally, Pendragon-sama is implied to be KingArthur. What [[FateStayNight other series]] do we know that has a lot of magic and a female King Arthur...?

[[WMG: Beatrice and Virgillia are the same person]]Just a silly theory based on that one scene where Virgillia takes Beatrice as her apprentice. Just looking at the dialogue, it seems like one person named Beatrice talking in third person.

[[WMG: The first four games didn't follow Knox.]][[color:red: The opening for ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' claims it is not a mystery. And information from the first four games is treated as valid during ''End of the Golden Witch'' despite violating Knox's 2nd.]]

[[WMG: Battler was part of the conspiricy to hide Kinzo's death in every arc except the first one.]][[color:blue: It is possible that the first four games didn't follow Knox,]] and [[color:red:Battler isn't the detective in ''End of the Golden Witch''.]]* First statement demoted to Blue Truth. [[color:blue:I propose that the statements that "this is not a Mystery" and "No Knox, no Dine, no Fair" were an attempt by Ryukishi to MindScrew us. A recent statement he made regarding the Golden Truth]] [[hottip:* :(see the [=WMG=] at the bottom of [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated this page]] for details)]] [[color:blue:suggests that [[MindScrew Mind Screws]] are to be expected of him.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: The true number of people (excluding Erika) on the island is 20.]]]][[color:red: No more than 17 humans exist on this island!!]] [[color:blue:That statement isn't in decimal, but base 13.]] [[color:gold:17 in base 13 is equal to 20 in decimal.]] [[color:red: Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]] However, [[color:red: At one point Kinzo is shown saying that "6* 9=42" which doesn't make sense in decimal, but makes perfect sense in base 13, thereby satisifying Knox's 8th.]] [[color:blue:This allows three more people to be on the island. Furthermore, besides the people confirmed to be alive on the island, anyone mentioned in the first game can be one of the extra people and the culprit without violating Knox's 1st.]]* [[color:blue:6* 9=42 was a ShoutOut to ''[[{{ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]''.]] [[color:red:Douglas Adams does not write his jokes in base 13.]] [[color:blue:Ryushiki doesn't either.]]** [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] Prove that 6* 9=42 is a ShoutOut to ''[[{{ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]''! Give us evidence and we'll acknowledge it!

[[WMG: Piece!Battler was never the detective. Therefore, it is possible that he is the culprit for the first four games.]]Even though it's been confirmed that meta!Battler was the detective for the first four games via Dlanor, piece!Battler has no such barrier to prevent being the culprit. On the gameboard, he tries no harder than anyone else to find the criminal and solve the mysteries. [[color:blue:I propose that meta!Battler is the detective, which allows the possibility of piece!Battler to be the murderer.]] As for the red truth that "[[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit,]]" this can be explained is multiple ways - either that Virgilia was referring to the baby from 19 years ago, or, again, that this only applies to meta!Battler and not piece!Battler.* [[color:red:Meta!Battler did not exist during most to all of the duration of the first game.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, at least during that game's duration, it is impossible for meta!Battler to be the detective.]]** [[color:blue:Meta!Battler is Episode-One-1-Piece!Battler.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Shannon and Kanon were the murderers in Episode 1.]]]]As Kyrie pointed out, it's easiest to see your opponent's moves in the endgame when there simply aren't many possible moves left. So, working from the end:

When Natsuhi was killed, Battler, George, Jessica and Maria were locked in the parlour. Red text confirms Eva, Hideyoshi, Kinzo, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Genji as dead at the time, leaving only Kanon and the people of the first twilight as suspects.

Red text for Kanon tells us he was either killed by a trap or faked his death since [[color:red: "no kind of human or dead person on the island could have killed Kanon!"]] and [[color:red: "Kanon did not commit suicide."]]. Of the people killed at the first twilight, we only know that [[color:red: "Regarding unidentified corpses, all of their identities are guaranteed. Therefore, no body double tricks exist!"]], which doesn't allow fake corpses, but [[color:blue: ''does'' allow someone to ''pretend'' to be a corpse. Shannon was hidden right in the back of the shed, and Kanon was the one who controlled the time at which the shed was discovered. By telling about it in front of the kids after a morning wondering where everyone was, and then having everyone run off, the kids were made suspicious enough that they'd follow before anyone could properly examine all the bodies. Since Shannon was right in the back, she most likely didn't get more than a cursory glance before the kids arrived and everyone became more preoccupied with preventing them seeing and closing up the place than making sure they were all dead.]]

In short, if Kanon and Shannon were responsible, they faked their deaths in such a way as to draw suspicion away from them, in line with clues we were given to satisfy Knox's 8th, and with their faked deaths, everything else falls into place.

With Shannon's faked death, the second twilight locked room is easily solved with Shannon locking the door from the inside and hiding in a closet. Kinzo was most likely placed in the furnace at Natsuhi's orders, and Maria was most likely responsible for the magic circle of paranoia. The only remaining question is why Nanjo would say Kanon was dead.

This also means that at the time the first game ended, Battler, George, Jessica, Maria, Shannon, and Kanon were alive - the six people at the first tea party.* Not just dead, but that the stake had gone in and pierced his lungs. He was pretty darn specific about it. [[color:blue:This theory basically requires him to have been in on whatever Kashnon were doing, at least in the beginning.]] He does die in the later twilights for the first, second, and third games, if we assume that he was also in on it in the second game and was hiding or something when he was initially proclaimed dead. The fourth one is a little bit more ambiguous.

[[WMG:[[color:blue:Even if someone is declared to be the detective in red, it is possible that he or she is acting under Knox's 9th rather then Knox's 7th]]]] [[color:red:When Battler accused Knox's 3rd of allowing the detective to be lazy, Dlanor clearified that it didn't literally rule out the existence of secret passages, but that it instead ruled out the existance of secret passages the detective couldn't find. Therefore, it is possible to misinterpet the decalogue if one interpets it literaly. Furthermore, according to the original Knox's decalogue, Knox's 7th only applies if the author personally vouches for the detective.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: regardless of what color someone else may use to proclaim X is the detective, X is only bound by Knox's 7th if the author (i.e. "Maria Ushiromiya"/Beatrice or Featherine depending on the arc) or the Game Master (by virtue of the premise that that Game Master creates the story) claims that X is the detctive.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika was right about Natsuhi sleeping with Kinzo.]]]][[color:red:According, to Battler's Blue Truth the name "Kinzo" refers to the head of the family.]] [[color:blue:Since the original Kinzo died before Battler solved the ephitat that would make Krauss the new head and thus the new Kinzo.]][[color:red: And of course there isn't anything shameful about Natsuhi sleeping with her husband.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Kinzo died far earlier then we've been led to believe.]]]][[color:red:The only time Kinzo has been confirmed to be alive in red was in 1967.]] [[color:blue:I propose he died shortly after Rosa's Beatrice died. The reason no one would mistake someone else for Kinzo is because they already know he's dead, or they've never actually met him. All of the adults and servents (besides Gohda) have been covering his death for Reason X. The subplots that rely on some of the adults believing Kinzo is alive are completly made up by Beato and Lambda in order to troll Battler.]]* {{Jossed}} by [=EP5=]. It's stated in the story that Kinzo died in 1985, just before that year's family conference. Some time before the ''October 4, 1986'' of [=EP5=], it is mentioned that Krauss and Natsuhi were unsuccessful in completely fooling the relatives, as the other siblings plus Kyrie got suspicious concerning Kinzo's absence from the conference, as he was never seen, though the servants and Natsuhi were all saying "''he was just here''" or "''he's in his study, but he's in a bad mood''", the latter is used to play on the siblings' knowledge of Kinzo's temper, and so is used to deter them from going to the study to verify Kinzo's presence. That's why each arc after [=EP1=] had the siblings demanding to see him. "''Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.''" The siblings weren't going to let them "''fool me twice''".** [[color:red: My argument states that all of those scenes are false. Knox's 9th. It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and interpretations be heard.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] If you would say in Red that the time of those scenes were falsified by the application of Knox's 9th, then I will have you provide evidence to support your theory that those scenes occurred earlier than they were said to!**** Very well. [[color:red: Beato stated in red that, Kinzo died instantly. Beato's definition of instant death requires the victim to be murdered. Therefore, Kinzo was murdered. In the scence where Nanjo pronounces Kinzo dead there is no evidence that Kinzo was murdered.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, that scence is false.]] Hold on...* eyes widen* ...I resign.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:We have been misled about Kinzo's Time of Death, but it happened more recently then we thought.]]]]As shown above the scence where Kinzo is pronounced dead is unreliable. Furthermore, [[color:red:as far as we know Natsuhi is planning on saying Kinzo has gone missing once Krauss recovers from his financial troubles, ]] [[color:blue: having Kinzo's corpse some place it can be found can only hurt Natsuhi's chances of success.]] [[color:red: If Kinzo died over a year ago Natsuhi and the others would have had plently of time to dispose of his corpse. His corpse is found in various episodes.]] Thus, [[color:blue: Kinzo died shortly before the start of the game, in fact his death could very well mark the start of the game.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika wasn't the detective during the fifth game]]]][[color:red: Furudo Erika had no influence on any of Beato's games before now.]] From this we can conclude that [[color:blue:Erika was not the detective during the first four games.]] Furthermore, [[color:red: Battler was required to provide human proof that he wasn't the detective during the fifth game.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, in order to prove that Erika was in fact the detective during the fifth, human proof must be provided. In other words the Red Truths claiming she is the detective are inadmissible.]][[color:red: Note that Knox's Rules never say there has to be a detective.]]* One small problem. "''[[color:red:Detective's authority. ......The detective has the right to inspect all crime scenes. Stand back, Battler Ushiromiya. This is an official right of this game, which the human side has acknowledged.]]''" If Erika was not the detective, she could not have used that to remove Battler from her path.** [[color:red:Knox's 2nd: It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]][[color:blue:The very fact that she used the red to move Battler proves she isn't the detective.]] *** Well, technically, Erika doesn't use the red; Bernkastel uses it for her.**** (1st respondent here.) [[WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Wrong, sir, wrong!]] When Battler refuses to let Erika enter the cousins' room, she says that Red and Battler gets thrown out of her way. As the 2nd respondent was kind enough to remind me, Knox's 2nd forbids such things. But, she wasn't using the Red for her deductions or to help solve the crime, she was using it to remind Battler of her right as the "detective" but I still agree that Knox's 2nd kills such a move.** [[color:red:Erika is simply stating that the detective has the right to inspect all crime scenes. ]][[color:blue:She is ''not'' actually asserting that the is the detective.]]***** Read the TIPS again. It says that Erika has no power to use the Red, due to being a human, but she has the benefit of the Red. Bernkastel is the one using the Red, but the words are coming from Erika's mouth. Still, nothing guarantees that Knox's rules actually apply.****** (1st respondent here.) Watch [=EP5=] again. When Erika tries to enter the cousins' room to inspect the scene, Battler stands in her way. Then Erika recites the Red Truth I originally posted, and Battler is lifted up (by nothing at all, I might add) and flung out of her way. Also, funnily enough, no one questions the fact that Battler was just thrown aside seemingly by words.******* Again, as stated, the words come from Erika's mouth, but it is Bernkastel that makes it Red Truth, according to the TIPS. Citing the scene I'm explaining doesn't mean anything. As for no one questioning anything, this is because they're pieces on a board, and thus are subject to the will of the Game Master.******** (1st respondent here.) I knew that bit about the Game Master's will, I just figured said Game Master (Lambda) should have paid attention to the fact that such a thing would seriously wow some humans IRL.********* I honestly don't think she cares. She and Bern are, in Virgilia's words, "scribbling on the gameboard."

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Erika is Bernkastel's literal daughter.]]]][[color:red: The similarities in their appearances is uncanny, and Bern even calls Erika her daughter at one point.]]* Who is the father, then?** [[color:blue: Keiichi would be the obvious choice, but I'm going to [[HomosexualReproduction go]] [[CrackPairing with]] [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Chie Rumiko]]]]** [[LesYay Lambdadelta.]] [[AWizardDidIt They are witches,]] [[HomosexualReproduction therefore it is entirely possible]] and [[YouFailBiologyForever regular rules of biology need not apply.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Battler was still the detective in episode 5]]]][[color:red:When Dlanor challenges Battler's claim that he isn't the detective, he points out that he claimed to see Kinzo, produced a corpse, and said]] [[color:gold:I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse!!]] [[color:blue:However this doesn't prove anything at all because Battler's Blue Truth "My theory is that Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head!",]] [[color:red:was never countered. Furthermore, even if we assume that the corpse he showed didn't belong to someone else,]] [[color:blue:he never established when Kinzo died with human proof.]] Furthermore, [[color:blue: even if Kinzo was dead when Battler claimed to see him it's possible that Battler mistook Kinzo's corpse for a living Kinzo.]]* You can't use the red to propose speculation. Furthermore, none of that implies in any way that Battler is the detective. It still doesn't change that Piece!Battler had a "conversation" with "Kinzo", invalidating his point of view.** [[color:blue: In order for that conversation to invalidate Piece!Battler's view point, it must be established that Kinzo was dead by that point in time using human proof!]]*** Not at all. It's already been supported in Red and Gold Truth. We have an absolute guarantee that Kinzo is dead before the game even started.**** [[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]]***** [[color:red:Dlanor made the same objection to the red truth. For whatever reason, the gold truth overrode it.]]****** [[color:red: True. However, that Gold Truth only proved that Kinzo was dead.]][[color:blue: Unless his time of death is also proven to be prior to the time Battler claims to have had a conversation with him , it is possible that they did have that conversation and thus Battler's status as the detective was never actually disproven. Again, human proof or Gold Truth must be used to establish this.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:The game didn't follow Knox.]]]][[color:red:It was never stated in]] [[strike:red]] [[color:red:Gold that it does]], since it would be a contradiction for the wicth side. [[color:red:In the 5th game, most of time the rules are invoked just the rules itself are stated in red, not the conclusion.]] [[color:blue:This don't mean nothing, since it would oly tell us about the rule, not it connection to the game.]] Battler's objective was never to prove the games are a mystery(trherefore following Knox), but just prove it was not a fantasy(that is it, there is no magic in it). All these use of the rules are just Erika and Bern using InsaneTrollLogic to confuse him.** Let me come with an alternative (which might be conflicting with other information, has only read ep 1-4 and if it doesn't work just ignore me).The Knox rules is only required with the mystery side, i.e. Battlers side. In the games he is extremely limited in his theories since he has to come up with suggestions that work without magic. The magic side isn't limited in the same way since they pretty much only have to say ''this is how I did it with with magic''. So to sum it up Battlers is trying to make the game a mystery (which is what Knox rules is about) but Beatrice is trying to prove that it is a fantasy (which Knox isn't about) and so Battler (and the readers) who tries to prove the mystery side is restrained by Knox while Beatrice isn't.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: It is possible to reconcile the fantasy scences with the idea the culprit must be a human using mundane means.]]]][[color:blue: Summoned furniture cannot do anything that would result in something that would have been impossible had they not been summoned. This includes both physical and psychological impossibilites. For example, Jessica and Kanon really did die in the way shown in episode 2, but Culprit X was in a position where he/she could and would have murdered them. Furthermore, in every case Culprit X knowingly summoned the furniture.]]* In English, please. I don't see where the WMG part is, since it was pretty obviously established that the magic scenes are metaphorical.** Basicly what I'm saying is that the magic scenes happen more or less as shown, but that magic requires the user to be willingly and able to perform mundane actions that would lead to the same result. For example, in order to use magic to kill Kanon one must be willing and able to kill Kanon without magic. This allows us to accept the fantasy scenes at (close to) face value while still allowing us to find a human culprit. Thereby, allowing us to have the best of both the Anti-Fantasy and Anti-Mystery views.*** This doesn't really work. Such as, well, almost all of Episode 4.**** I'm not saying everything shown in a fantasy scence has to be achievable by mundane means, just that the end result has to be. For example, in order for the George vs Gaap Battle, and the Jessica versus Ronove Battles to happen. The culprit must have some mundane way to acheive the following, 1) having George appear in the arbor with a gunshot-like wound to the head, 2) have Jessica make the call to Battler, and 3) have Jessica appear in her room with her head half destroyed. There doesn't have to be, for example, a mundane way to make George and Jessica kill eachother. Also, note that this theory actually makes the culprit weaker then a pure Anti-Fantasy perspective as he/she/they could mistakenly target someone who has one of Maria's charms using magic. Or are you saying that there is something that definitly happened (i.e. either confirmed in red or witnessed by piece!Battler) that can't be explained via mundane means.***** Most of the magic scenes are so dissociated from the reality of events that they literally can't be "more or less" proper counterparts for the mundane events, and indeed some scenes might be entirely falsified with no mundane counterpart. For instance, how about Shannon's resurrection in Episode 3?****** If she was the murderer, then presumably, she faked her own death. Battler didn't see the corpses himself - the aunts and uncles did. That scene could be George finding out that she's still alive, then both of them promptly being killed by someone else.******** And how about the "loser flags" scene in Episode Four? And Shannon and Kanon having a Spirit Particle Jamming fight with the Siestas?********* Regarding the "loser flags" scene, Krauss beat the crap out of someone who his trying to kill him and the others. Unfortunatly, that person wasn't the only culprit.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: The scene where Natsuhi and Beato drink tea together was genuine.]]]][[color:red:In Episode 2 there were no more then 17 people on the island, and Beato gave the keyto the chapal to Maria. However, Beato claims she isn't one of the seventeen on the island.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Beato is not counted as a person. The statement,]] [[color:red: "After all, Natsuhi is drinking tea all by herself right there."]][[color:blue:simply means she wasn't drinking tea with another person, it does not rule out the possibility she was drinking tea with Beato, who is not a person.]]* It hasn't been stated in red that Beatrice was the one who gave the key to Maria, so this doesn't work. Even if such a statement had been made, "Beatrice" refers to the human culprit. Ontop of that, while Beatrice may not be a human, she is still a "someone".** Regarding the key, Beato says, [[color:red:"The key to the chapel truly was the object inside the envelope I gave Maria."]]*** Does "I" refer to Beatrice herself, or the human culprit she represents? Does "I gave" even indicate an objective position of "Beato gave Maria the letter" or does it simply indicate the letter that, in a Fantasy Scene, came from "Beatrice?" Either way, the thesis of this WMG doesn't really work out.**** The point I was trying to establish is that Beato claimed she was on the island, yet claims she isn't one of the seventeen and thus would have left room for herself in the count if she counted as a person. Your're later question is basicly invoking Knox's 2nd against the Red Truth about the key. In which case, [[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]] [[color:blue: If you would claim that Natsuhi was drinking tea alone you must present human evidence to support that claim.]]***** [[color:blue: No one gives a shit about Knox's rules.]]****** [[color:red:Knox's Decalogue, while not absolute, is a valid standpoint.]]******* [[color:red: Only if we have reason to believe the Decalogue actually applies. None of the legitimate Gamemasters had acknowledged it as anything worthwhile, and our only reason to believe it has any worth is because of Erika's and Dlanor's insistence.]]******** [[color:red: Beato noted that Knox forbid secert passage, and claimed that she followed that rule. Also, it is implied that Battler used Knox to solve Beato's game. Therefore, we have reason to believe Knox applies]]********* [[color:red:My Red Truth regarding the Decalogue applies to its existence as absolute rules, that every event has followed to the letter. It is not absolute, but it '''is''' a valid perspective, and thus the rules can be cited in Red without any problems. However, to establish the Decalogue as absolute rules, the current Game Master,]][[hottip:* :Battler as of the conclusion of [=EP5=]]] [[color:red:and '''ONLY''' the Game Master, must state in Gold that the events of the game follow the Decalogue.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Some of the poems shown in Higurashi were written after the events of Umineko, and are written to refer to events in both series.]]]][[color:blue:For example, this poem also refers to Battler's sin.]]

-->Do you know what your sin is?-->It isn't because you ate the forbidden fruit.-->Do you know what your sin is?-->It isn't because you listened to the serpent.-->You still don't know what what your sin is?-->Then, that itself is your sin.

-->-Frederica Bernkastel

* [[color:red:This is plausible. It is currently unknown if ''Umineko'' was in the planning stages when that poem was written.]] [[color:blue:However, it might just be a coincidence.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika loss the fifth game due to the early suspension.]]]][[color:blue: The various abillities her detective's authority grants her only work if the game actually finishes. For example, someone could have been disguising him/herself, but the clue or clues indicating that appeared after the game was suspended and thus Erika didn't have the chance to see them. Likewise, Knox's 3rd doesn't gurentee that the detective will find any secret passages she looks for, but rather gurentees the she'll find any relevent to the mystery by the end of the game. Thus for example, she may have found some piece of evidence impicating Shannon in the crime had the game not ended early. For that matter, Natsuhi may have been the fourth twilight victim.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Knox's 2nd is just an excuse.]]]][[color:blue: The real reason characters began demanding evidence to support the red is that they realized that it could be worded in a misleading way.]] For example,[[color:red:Natsuhi isn't the culprit.]] could refer to someone who isn't even on the island.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:The Ushiromiya Eva we know is not the true Ushiromiya Eva, but an imposter.]]]][[color:red: Near the end of Alliance of the Golden Witch, Ange proclaims in red that her ''entire family'' never came home from Rokkenjima.]] [[color:blue: At some point prior to meeting Hideyoshi, the real Eva spent a substantial ammount of time away from her family, met someone with an extremly similar appearance and the same given name and told this person a great deal about herself and her family. However the original Eva died somehow and this new Eva took her place.]] Since she isn't really part of the Ushiromiya family Red Truths referring to the family do not include her.* Given the emotional context and the Red Truth's established unreliability, it's more likely that "Ange's family" refers to her direct relatives: Rudolf, Kyrie, Batter.

[[WMG: Regarding piece-Beatrice]]

[[color:purple:Beatrice]] [[color:gray:(1) is|(2) is not]] [[color:purple:a member of the Ushiromiya family. She]] [[color:gray:(1) is|(2) is not]] [[color:purple:a half-sibling to the other Ushiromiya siblings, with Kinzo as father and Rosa's childhood story Beatrice as mother, and an unnaturally similar appearance to her mother. In every episode she]] [[color:grey: (3) comes|(4) doesn't come]] [[color:purple:to the family conference, but doesn't appear since]] [[color:gray:(5) some characters' actions {(5.0) manslaughter|(5.1) murder} |(6) a fatal accident]] [[color:purple:kill her early during her stay on Rokkenjima. The servants, in any case, aren't allowed to let the other siblings know about her death.]] Just because she's a mean bitch doesn't mean she's the culprit whenever she shows up.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: X games does not mean X worlds.]]]][[color:blue:There are two worlds involved in each game. A mystery world in which everything was done without magic, and a fantasy world in which somethings (i.e. atleast everything shown to be done with magic) were done by magic. Battler and the readers never actually see the Mystery worlds, but the Red truths refer to them. Furthermore, Beato deliberatly chose to show Battler Fantasy world's which would give him the neccesary information to figure out what happened in the Mystery world's without actually knowing those worlds existed.]]* [[color:red:This is plausible.]] I wouldn't be surprised if this was '''canon'''.* The braun tube argument of [=EP3=] is a very strong support of this theory. In fact, one possible solution is that [[color:blue:Umineko exists in a 'space' where both the fantasy world and the mystery world exist.]] Due to Battler's anti-magic power, however, his presence(And in Game 5, Erika's) prevents the existance of magic in his presence. This makes the two worlds akin to two pieces of paper side-by-side, able to move freely with differing events, with Battler acting as a pencil lanced through both pieces of paper, forcing events in his vicinity to remain very similar, but the farther away from his anti-magic power, the more the two worlds are allowed to differ.** One reason Beatrice wants Battler to win is because [[color:blue:if he loses the Mystery World will be blown away and cease to exist, leaving only the fantasy world]]... a world in which she's a sadistic witch that has lived for a thousand years in cruelty and will live for a hundred thousand more. She wants Battler to win and destroy her for the sake of her own heart.

[[WMG: Shannon and Beatrice are both alternate personalities of Kanon's.]]Prepare for TL;DR.

First off, this isn't exactly a new theory, but I don't see a formal entry for it, and especially not one as indepth as what I'm about to provide.

The basic premise also has a twist. Although the current Shannon is a product of Kanon's invention, Shannon was indeed a real person up to a certain moment in time. Shannon died for some reason (perhaps falling from the rocks when she went to break the mirror as per her deal with Beatrice, maybe she fell off that cursed fenceless cliff of doom people keep dying on, maybe she fell down the stairs in a tragic Dojikko fashion. Ultimately irrelevant), and her death was recent enough for Shannon's and George's romance to be entirely sincere. I would wager that her death happened after the formation of the romance, a few months before October 1986. Most importantly, her corpse was preserved and stored somewhere.

Kanon recreated Shannon in his mind because he couldn't bear the depth of his onee-chan, and although he couldn't see the sea past its greys, she could see its blue. This new Shannon is a sincere personality, carrying on her life. Kanon is so dedicated to preserving her existence that his own self only came out for his servant's duties, causing him to become the depleted, repressed "furniture" we see today. He runs from his love for Jessica because he doesn't want to jeoprodize Shannon's future with George.

The Servants may or may not know of this; they surely would've noticed something was up, and it's not the first time they covered a death. Besides, there's no malice, and they surely miss sweet Shannon too, so what harm is there in letting this "magical resurrection" go on? Then again, they might also play into the charade for fear of awakening the ire of the Witch...

Which brings us to Beatrice. Born at the same moment as "Shannon", of Kanon's resentment that Shannon had to die. Of Kanon's resentment that she couldn't live for Battler to fulfill her promise. That she couldn't live to be "human." Beatrice represents this resentment, and thus she is sympathized with the tragic, caged witch of Beatrice. Like Beatrice, Shannon couldn't see the world save for the blue her magic showed her. Like Beatrice, no one came to save her. Like Beatrice, she has to use the magic of lies to keep existing. And like Beatrice, she may have died on the rocks while yearning for freedom. And now...the only way Beatrice can be free, the only way Shannon can be free, is if she dies like she was meant to. Kanon's insistence on their existence is like trapping a ghost. An unpleasant half-existence.

Is it not telling that Shannon has seen the Golden Land, which can only be visited through death? Lord knows Kanon can't be the false personality. Not only is it red that no one can take his name, but there is just no way you'd bound up those ginormous tits.

Is it not telling that Kanon and Shannon not only have magical powers when almost no other real human does, but they're also "furniture" like Beatrice's magical servants?

Is it not telling that only Kanon and Shannon can see Beatrice prior to the start of the Games, due to their being on the same "wavelength?" Yea, I fucking thought so. Though Maria can see Beatrice, one could argue this is just Beatrice being the dominant personality. What is clear is that Kanon, Shannon, and Beatrice behave like typical "headmates" of a Multiple system.

Most tellingly, in my opinion, is that at the Tea Party of the First Game, we have the children who lived to the end, Beatrice, and Kanon and Shannon. Why the hell are they there? Sure, you could argue that it's because of Jessica's and George's wish, but then why exclude Rosa? The reason they're there is because Beatrice is there, and they're all parts of each other.

How can we work this into the specific Games? Let's see:

First Game: Shannon's death in the first Twilight is simple. The Beatrice personality just appropriately mutilates and places the Shannon corpse, and then suppresses the Shannon personality from doing anything. Simple enough. After this things get a bit tricky. What about Kanon's death? Perhaps he may have have a Battle In the Center of the Mind with Beatrice, and she won out. After this, Beatrice fakes Kanon's death, and perhaps Nanjo is an accomplice. He's also necessary then for placing the letter that gets the servants and Maria kicked out of Kinzo's study. Beatrice then swoops in and kills the servants, and later Natsuhi. Beatrice may also be responsible for the message in a bottle.

Second Game: Simple. Kanon's death is reconciled by Kanon's personality being suppressed, and Beatrice takes control of the body. The Fake Kanon scene is effectively Beatrice revealing herself and forcing the servants into cooperation under penalty of death. When they report to Rosa, it's Beatrice speaking through Shannon's mouth, and she's threatening the servants to collaborate with her story, to both support the magic narrative and clear Kanon's name. After this, she drags off George and Gohda and kills them, then dumps the Shannon corpse. Beatrice proceeds to clean up the rest of the murders, throws out the message in a bottle, yadda yadda.

Third Game: Shit gets messy here. Beatrice carries out the First Twilight, dumps the Shannon corpse, and then fumbles and accidentally gets themself killed. The Dojikko curse. After this, Eva Culprit theory kicks in, but this doesn't explain Nanjo's death, does it? Well, I kind've found it suspicious that Krauss and Natsuhi's corpses are removed and unfound. Perhaps Eva-Beatrice dealt with them, but Natsuhi was still alive albeit injured? She knows she has to stop Eva, but she instead comes across Nanjo and an injured Jessica, and assumes that Nanjo is an accomplice. We know that mental stability isn't her thing.* OP Here. Actually, after reviewing some facts, I'd like to amend this. [[color:blue: Eva is not the culprit of Episode 3, and the entirety of Eva-Beatrice is a complete red herring.]] Eva is actually completely innocent, though she falsifies aspects of her alibi so she could investigate independently, or even check on the gold. Kanontrice faked her death with Nanjo's help again and carried everything out, framing Eva. This Beatrice is the one who kills Nanjo.** [[07151129 = July 15/November 29. Battler's birthday, and the day Shannon died. Battler's sin. This would of course pin Shannon's death as almost a year ago, which is workable.]]

Fourth Game: It's safe to assume that atleast the Beatrice personality is aware of where the gold is. She could come forward and present this similar to the Second Game, and proclaim herself as the new family head, and thus the new Kinzo of Goldsmith. Beatrice kills the First Twilight victims, kidnaps everyone else, etcetera. She has them say what she wants over the phone via threat of violence as usual. She visits George disguised as Shannon and kills him. She visits Jessica disguised as Kanon and has her say what she wants on the phone, then kills her. She gives her beloved Maria a beautiful death as usual. Pretending to be an escaped Shannon, she gets the key from Gohda, gets into the shed, kills them, and locks it back up. Battler was unable to verify that the key was still on Gohda's person, after all. Beatrice kills the kidnappees where they are, has Kyrie say as she wants under threat of violence, then puts out the Shannon corpse. Now Beatrice takes on her own appearances, tests Battler, yadda yadda. Unsatisfied with his answer, she commits suicide in Kinzo's study. What kills Battler in the end? A bomb rigged up beforehand that goes off at the tenth twilight.

Fifth Game: I'm so not even touching this due to how much Lambdadelta and Bernkastel utterly fuck with the game. Though the implication seems to be that Kanon and Shannon switch regularly and Beatrice never emerges.* [[color:red: There are five master keys, one for each servant.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: If Shannon and Kanon are the same person at the start of the game an as of yet unseen servent must be on the island.]]** Simple. [[color:blue: Kanon and Shannon, as alternate personalities, count as separate servants. If Krauss and Natsuhi are not aware of Shannon's demise, Kanon can still be collecting her payroll and still have her master key.]]*** [[color:red: It is never/not yet stated no one can take Shannon's name and identity.]] [[color:blue:It is also implied that a "Person" refers to a body, currently alive and functioning, not the spirit of a human being or furniture. For example, at one point in arc 3, the disembodied spirit of Kanon helps Jessica move to safety. Since he is dead, and not in a funtioning body, he is not technically "human", and does not count as one on the island at the time, even though he does, indeed, have the soul of Kanon. Therefore, even this "Shannon" would be counted as a seperate person, and therefore furniture, than Kanon.]]...And to the second one... As said before, [[color:blue:Even if they did know of Shannon's death, they still most likely wanted some sort of extra help around the place, and most likely even shared some sort of bond with her, so they didn't report the incident to Kinzo, hoping he wouldn't notice anything strange going on with her.]]** [[color:red: Kanon was killed in this (Jessica's) room (in the second game)]] [[color:blue:There exists no evidence that killed has ever meant anything other then Murdered.]] [[color:red: unless you can provide clues in the story that killed can mean one's identity was suppressed and that killed can be something one does to them self, knox's 8th renders your argument invalid.]] * [=EP6=] makes it pretty obvious that Kanon and Shannon are the same person, and hints strongly that s/he is also Beatrice. (See "Kanon is Shannon", up near the top.)

[[WMG: Gaap represents Natsuhi.]]What is Gaap's role and power? She disposes of corpses to create Closed Rooms, hide times of deaths, and such like that.

What is Natsuhi's biggest secret? She covered up Kinzo's death and burned it in the furnace to hide how long ago he died.

On top of that, neither of them wear the One Winged Eagle, and oddity for both sides. Ding ding ding! Winner.

[[WMG: The "[[ChessMotif chess]]" game they're playing isn't actually chess, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa Arimaa]].]][[http://arimaa.com/arimaa/ Arimaa]] has some similarities to chess and it can be played using a chess board and chess pieces, but it's definitely not chess. [[http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/flash/vs/new/ Watch this tutorial]] and think of the people on the game board as Arimaa pieces instead of chess pieces and see if it makes sense to you.

Oh, and before you bring up the Knox rule about not solving the mystery with clues not presented; 1) This doesn't exactly solve the mystery, and 2) in the beginning of the 5th game, when Battler was re-examining Beato's old moves it was mentioned that the game looked like chess at a glance, but when you looked closer it wasn't like any chess game or something (sorry if I wasn't very articulate in stating this wmg but it's 4:30 am) * In EP 6, there's also mentionings of "not-chess." Battler also comments about pushing and pulling back.

[[WMG:[[color:blue: At the end of the game the players have a minute to make any last minute arguments or counterarguments.]]]]Furthermore, from our perspecitve the endgames seem to last much longer then a minute.[[color:blue:However, despite appearances, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction talking is not a free action.]] The reason the endgames clearly last much longer then a minute is because whenever a player makes a move time gets added to his or her clock, much like "fixed extra time" in chess.]]* Additionally, Time moves differently in the Meta-world, as evidenced by the way that they can stop a scene. Presumably if they shut up for a while time will keep moving, so they have to keep arguing to maintain the hesitation of time, which is another reason for their battles to be so desperate.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika can see dead people.]]]][[color:blue: Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head! Therefore, as long as someone in the Ushiromiya family is alive Kinzo is alive.]] [[color:red:From 24:00 until morning, a living Kinzo could only have existed inside Natsuhi's bed. Furthermoe, Natsuhi is pure and faithful.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:a living Kinzo can't exist and the whole Ushiromiya family is dead, this includes Ange and the Other Battler. Since Erika sees several members of the Ushiromiya family she is able to see dead people.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Natsuhi isn't pure and faithful.]]]][[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique. Erika deduced that a living Kinzo couldn't exist outside of Natsuhi's bed, and used that as a basis to question Natsuhi's faithfulness. Battler countered by presenting his grandfather's corpse. However, I can construct a theory in which Natsuhi had sex with a different "Kinzo".]][[color:blue: Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head! Therefore, as long as someone in the Ushiromiya family is alive Kinzo is alive.]][[color:red:When Erika searched for Kinzo, the only Ushiromiyas whose locations were unknown were the people whose bodies had gone missing. Krauss was dead by that point in time, and Erika had used her seals to confirm the location of the others during the night.]] However, [[color:blue: one of those people may have been someone disgusing him/herself as someone else.]]* [[color:red:Knox's 10th. It is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues.]]** [[color:red:In the second game we saw Jessica cosplaying as [[{{Touhou}} Marisa Kirisame]] Furthermore, {{Touhou}} was released in 1996 and thus Jessica couldn't have gotten the design from Touhou.]]Therefore, [[color:blue: she must have gotten the design from the actual Marisa, and if Jessica can convincingly cosplay as Marisa the reverse is also true. Therefore, the "Jessica" that was with the other cousins that night is actually Marisa disguised as Jessica and the real Jessica was in Natsuhi's bed. Given Jessica's age and the fact Natsuhi goes so far as to act like she beleives everyone when they tell her Jessica is dead. We can conclude that [[ParentalIncest Natsuhi and Jessica had sex.]] Furthermore, the majority of episode 5 was Natsuhi trolling Erika.]]*** [[color:red:The timeline of ''WhenTheyCry'' does not match ours in terms of when media is released (see Higurashi)]]. [[color:blue:''{{Touhou}}'' was, in the ''WhenTheyCry'' timeline, released in the early 1980s or before.]]**** [[color:red: Umineko itsef was released far earlier in the WhenTheyCry timeline, then it was in our universe (i.e. the message bottles, and Featherine's stories). And of course, the events of Umineko are atleast partial based on actual events within WhenTheyCry-verse.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:any media released in the WhenTheyCry timeline prior to its release in our timeline is based on actual events that took place within the WhenTheyCry timeline. Therefore, Marisa exists and is capable of disguising herself as Jessica.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Battler's theory about Kinzo's name is incorrect.]]]][[color:blue:Everyone at the family conference was shown Kinzo's corpse and recognized the existence of the late Kinzo.]]* Alternatively, everyone recognising the existence of Kinzo doesn't actually imply the existence of Kinzo at the family conference. [[color:blue:Krauss agreed to the rest of the family's demands in return for them recognising the existence of Kinzo.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Ange's timeline in the fourth game is an illusion.]]]][[color:red:Due to Battler's sin, everyone on the island dies.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, it is impossible for Eva to have survived. That was an illusion crafted in order to create Meta-Ange and deliver clues to Battler.]]* Technically, the line is [[color:red:Because of your sin, people die.]] There's no Red Text guarantee that everyone must die.** From the novel: [[color:red:Due to your sin, a great many humans on this island die. No one escapes, all die.]] So actually there is a red text guarantee.*** That still doesn't necessarily mean anything. The Red can be wrong depending on interpretation. It's going to have to be proven wrong anyway when the ending rolls around (There's just no way we're not getting a happy ending here, let's face it).*** That particular red text referred to the gameboard of Episode 4. 1998 Ange was from the Episode 3 gameboard timeline, and no red text prevents that Eva from surviving the island.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Atleast one scene, in ''End of the Golden Witch'', involving Kinzo, depicts Kinzo's character with absolute accuracy.]]]][[color:red:No corpses exist except those of characters who have appeared in the story.]] And, [[color:gold:I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse...!!]] [[color:blue:If every scene depicting Kinzo misrepresented him, then Kinzo never appeared in the story, and thus his corpse couldn't exist.]]* No duh. We've seen flashbacks of Kinzo back when he was alive, dude.

[[WMG:Amakusa is the baby that Natsuhi wanted to adopt]]Beato stated that it would have taken a miracle for the servant and the baby to have survived falling off the cliff. Who's to say Bernkastel didn't do her thing? We never get a confirmation on his age. Maybe he's 31 and is just [[OlderThanTheyLook older than he looks?]]** With the screenshots for [=EP6=] revealing we're returning to 1998, and Juuza will be focused on at least a little bit, This Troper is leaning closer and closer to this theory.*** Read Amakusa's profile again. The man's gone through Special Forces training, time in the JSDF, time in the French Foreign Legion and has become so good at his job that he's become renowned as a specialist. Realistically, he would have to be in his late-twenties at the very least so thirty-one wouldn't be implausible.**** Would just like to mention that the "Battler is Amakusa" theory could also tie in here, what with Battler's theory about the fifth arc.

[[WMG: The X person from 19 years ago.]]* The gender of the baby has not been declared in red, therefore in can be either male or female. Even if Natsuhi gets a call from a male claiming to be the son, the reader has no proof of the babby was actually male to begin with.* It is stated that Shannon came from the same orphan house as that baby.* Shannon's age has not been revealed.** Shannon is stated to be 16 in the first game.* Battler's birth circumstances are in question, even his theory is that he's actually the person from 19 years agoThere are actually two people that fit this criteria properly, Battler -and- Shannon, Jessica might count as well if you believe that she's Natsuhi's child althought there's no red for this either. Considering Natsuhi's mental state, there is still a possibility that the guilt caused her to love -another- adopted child as her own.

In other words, we have 3 people in the same age group, two of 'em have special birth circumstances and the other one has a parent with mental issues which might serve to put their birth circumstances in question.* I'm getting this from a spoiler page on LJ and as such, it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it appears to have been revealed in EP 6 that the Battler we know is Kyrie's son, who was given to Asumu, while the one Asumu had was given to Natsuhi.** If so, then that still leaves the door open for Shannon and Jessica -- and tangentially, Amakusa, but that's an incredibly long shot it can hardly be considered.*** Only way Amakusa could be considered is if his name is also Ushiromiya Battler (the first one) and when the red states the number of people on the island, it counts the two Battlers as a single person -- but this is so silly, so lets just move on.**** Amakusa as the second Battler (introduced in [=EP5=]) would be interesting, and would give semi-credibility to the "Amakusa is Battler" [=WMG=] on the main [=WMG=] page for ''Umineko''.

[[WMG:The remaining Siestas are not bunny girls.]]When Maria received the rabbits a lot believe the Siesta sisters are based on, she didn't just receive those rabbits. It was a whole forest band of different animals. There were about 20 in all. Just the four were rabbits. The remaining are all sorts of other {{Half Human Hybrid}}s. So when they started referring to the other Siestas in [=EP6=], those are the rest of the forest band! We're going to see CatGirl Siesta, Dog Girl Siesta, Rooster Girl Siesta, Tanuki Girl Siesta (My, that one will be interesting), etc.!

[[WMG: Maria's deaths...]]* 1st game: Alive near the end (died 9th twilight?)* 2nd game: Alive near the end (died 9th twilight?)* 3rd game: Died on the 2nd Twilight (after Eva-trice took over)* 4th game: Died on the 9th Twilight (one of the last to die, one of the more peaceful deaths)* 5th game: Died on the 1st Twilight* 6th game: Died on the 1st Twilight

Notice a pattern? When Beatrice is in control Maria doesn't die until the very, very end (9th twilight, if at all), but when Beatrice loses control Maria is always a sacrifice in the following twilight.

I believe this pattern may be relevant

** Moreover, from an interview with Ryukishi: *** If you fully understand the world of Umineko, then you would find that this is an additional element pertaining to Beatrice. Without the meeting with Maria, there wouldn't be this present Beatrice as she is now. To Beatrice, Maria is an existence she cannot belittle; moreover, she is a crucial element in creating the "present Beatrice". So just talking about the plot of the story alone, the meeting between Maria and Beatrice at least causes some chemical reaction to the world of 1986. ** It's relevant, but I'd just toss in that the detail about the jawbone in the first arc, although it doesn't necessarily indicate her death, indicates something relatively brutal, unless it's faked.** But wait? Are we sure that she was ALIVE when her body was separated? Also, don't forget the theory that there is a landslide. That would explain the difficulties with the body.*** OP here: The point isn't that she survives the game, but that she makes it to the point at which the game ends; the 9th twilight during which "none shall be left alive." I posted this pattern because I had a theory (still do) that Maria is Beato (although there may be more than one person taking that name), and needed a place to keep the evidence, I chose here because even if I was wrong it would probably still be useful to someone.*** [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike How the heck did I post this without remembering it and why did I put it on the Untranslated page?]] I had a hypothesis that Beatrice is an alternate personality of Maria and possibly a few others, but I just used it as an example.

[[WMG: Sakutaro is coming back]]Because the Black Witch knew the Deep Magic From the Dawn of Time, which is written in letters as deep as a spear is long on the fire-stones on the Secret Hill, but she does not know the Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time: that when a willing victim is killed in a traitor's stead, then Death itself will start working backwards.* [[IKnewIt Called it!]] (Why do only my joke guesses come true?)** There's only one question Battler (and Ryukishi by extension) didn't answer. How is Sakutaro there if he was destroyed by Rosa (as [=EP4=] shows) some time before the trip to Rokkenjima, sending Maria off the deep end and down the road to becoming the CreepyChild we all know and want to hug? And no, Ange giving Maria the Sakutaro she found when she went there in 1998 doesn't work, as that was after the fact. However, that does create an interesting Blue Truth. [[color:blue:I propose that in the world of [=EP6=], Rosa didn't drop the new Sakutaro, and gave it to Maria off-screen, possibly before they arrived on Rokkenjima.]]

[[WMG: Beatrice is a title and not a name, so therefore [[spoiler: the Beatrice in the first five arcs can be revived]]]].The red truth is usually quite open to interperitation, so saying [[spoiler: Beatrice can't be revived]] in red text may refer to the title of Beatrice, which [[spoiler: Ange]] is said to be the final [[spoiler: holder of]]. If this theory is correct, then the possibility that [[spoiler: Ange, after dieing in the meta-world, would be the last holder of the title]] would be a true statement.* Confirmed. [[BigDamnHeroes Beato crashes Erika and Battler's wedding.]] I'll let you figure out the details.* Virgilia also was previously known as Beatrice, before she passed it on, as Beato has passed it on to [[spoiler: Eva-Beatrice and Ange]] and it is highly likely from the background that we have seen that Beato might have had a name other than Beatrice before she became a witch. Because the name is passed on, and former holders of the name assume other names, it's highly likely that "Beatrice" is in fact a title.

[[WMG: Furudo Erika is headed for an AlasPoorScrappy.]]She's supposed to be Bernkastel's game piece, but we've seen how Bernkastel has been acting lately... And despite being a complete [[{{Ptitleutvwuc2h}} Bitch In Sheep's Clothing]], she also clearly ''fears'' Bernkastel and being ignored... Then there's the scene after [[spoiler: her first VillainousBreakdown where she begs Bernkastel to acknowledge her, and Bern responds by ''striking her down and possibly altering her memories'' just to shut her up]]. She's going to crash and burn, and it's ''not'' going to be pretty.* Confirmed. Bernkastel reveals that although Erika most certainly did wash up on Rokkenjima, she was already dead when she did, as she drowned at sea. Not the kind of death I'd wish on her, the bitch.

[[WMG: Beatrice (or at least the meta version of Beatrice) exists because of Battler's sin.]]Correct me if I am wrong, as I am not entirely knowledgable in Japanese and am partially basing this on word of fandom, but it was stated at one point in [=EP6=] that six human years is the equivilant of a thousand witch years. Battler's sin was six years ago. Beatrice has supposedly lived for "a thousand years". Get where I'm going with this? Let's run on the wild presumption that whomever meta-Beatrice supposedly represents (be it Jessica, Shannon, or the theoretical "third Beatrice") did not always start out imagining Beatrice. Let's assume that Battler's sin caused some sort of traumatic event to one of these three. This girl coped with the trauma by creating an imaginary friend whom she could confide in--and this friend is meta-Beatrice.* This is as close to confirmed as you can get without it being explicitly stated.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Higurashi was a solitaire game]]]]In the sixth game, Lambda said that Bern used to be the piece of an incompetent game master who lost sight of her goals and created a logic error. The incompetent GM forced Bern to repeat events over and over in order to find a solution, and Bern escaped by becoming a witch. But in the second game, Bern said that she was born from "Lambda's game". Also, Lambda wrote in her diary that she had tried to help a girl who "wanted to become a god", and that girl created a new witch for her. There was no indication that Lambda was competing with someone as part of that process.

[[color:blue: The only way to reconcile this information is if the "incompetent GM" was Lambda herself. Then, since both Bern and Takano were Lambda's pieces, she wasn't playing against anyone but herself. In that case, even Hanyuu was one of her pieces, which implies various things about Featherine...]]

* It's entirely possible that Featherine was Lambda's opponent. It certainly seems like Hanyuu was her piece, or something.** We don't know. But right now, we do know that Bernkastel was Featherine's miko. In other words, she was reading Featherine's story, just like Ange in ep6. *** The GM was Hanyuu, she started the game resurrecting Rika, but she stopped playing until the last Kakera.** It's also possible that Featherine is a character invented by Lambda to be her opponent. After all, Meta Battler was Beatrice's piece originally, but that didn't stop them playing games with each other.

[[WMG: A line of thought on the solution to Episode 6]]An Ep. 6 recap:

'''A plot:'''\\Battler, Erika and Kanon walk into a room.\\One person leaves.\\Battler and Kanon are no longer in the room.

'''B plot:'''\\Three hours of smacking you in the face with: ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* \\Then Shannon symbolically kills her other identities and reintegrates them into herself.

It's not hard to see how B can be used to resolve A.

The window seal in Shannon's room was never checked. Only the seal on Kanon's room was confirmed. This is obfuscated until it is proven that only Kanon could save Battler.

Kanon was never in his room, of course. But Erika never looked, and the red text bends over backwards to avoid enumerating the contents of the room. Shkanontrice shimmys down the wall and enters the guest room as Kanon. He rescues Battler by their clever trick. Shannon reaches the climax of her parallel plot. Kanon simply... dissolves.

Erika and Shannon are still in the guest room. But Erika never thinks to ask ''how many'' people are in the guest room. In her eyes, it can only be magic.

[[WMG:[[color:blue:Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are/were/will be [[{{Digimon}} Digidestined.]]]]]][[color:red: There exists a Digimental of Miracles, and a Digimental of Destiny. Furthermore, every Crest shown corresponds to a Digimental.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, every Digimental in the Digimon anime must have a corresponding Crest. No human could exhibt the traits neccesary to earn the Crest of Miracles or the Crest of Destiny. However, the Witch of Miracles and Witch of Certainty would certainly exhibit those traits.]][[color:red: Every Crest shown belongs to a Digidestined.]] * This is the best theory ever. Who are their Digimon partners?** I'm not sure, but I would guess Black Gatomon for Bern, and I have no idea what Lambda's would be. Someone, with a more comprehensive knowledge of Digimon then me, would probably be able to provide a better answer.

[[WMG:The closed room that produced the logic error in [=EP6=] is not referring to the Guest Room but to the entire Mansion]]If we reread all the red texts concerning the Guest Room closed room. The term Closed room is not directly appointed to the guest room.As this troper sees in the beginning of the sixth episodes, there is a puzzle in which the solution is to put one inside another.What if the real closed room is the mansion and the guestroom is a closed room inside another?* Your spelling needs work. I cleaned it up for you. As for your theory, [[color:red:it is plausible.]]

[[WMG:Okonogi is the Mastermind but not the culprit]]Okonogi is cited in the first game. He could easily get any pressure method for almost any characters of the game. What if he is using that to make people do things they are not supposed to do (e.g. Natsuhi in the closet in the Guestroom)?* Yeah, Okonogi is the mastermind, and Gohda is the culprit, he constricted his fist, and the whole island exploded. True story.

[[WMG:Younger Beatrice is weak against Mirrors because they reflect whom she really is.]]If you take the whole theory that Beatrice=Shannon=Kanon, it also explains why Beatrice had Shannon destroy the mirror in the shrine. A mirror will reveal the true body regardless of the personality in charge -- doing so breaks the illusion of the witch on herself. Once the mirror was broken in Ep2, Beatrice became more powerful because there was no way to break the illusion in her mind. It also explains why Beatrice couldn't harm Natsuhi properly in Ep6 until she dropped the mirror. * Even if you don't take the multiple personality theories as true this still works! Even from a meta perspective, since she's really a Human she has the anti-magic toxin that comes from her eyes and is probably reflected by mirrors.

[[WMG: The story does not actually take place in 1986.]]Some people have noticed things that they believe hint at the gameboard being a story told between the characters, with the metaworld usually being a warped representation of the real world. If this is true than the metaworld doesn't need to be in 1986. If it's not set in 1986 then when is it set? Probably 1992, 6 years after the gameboard's setting, after all if Beatrice is using the story to remind Battler of his sin it has to be set in the time period he did so, and since they say he sinned 6 years ago if the story isn't set in 1986 it must be set 6 years after the sin that took place in 1986.

[[WMG: Lambda's true goal...]]Bern, listen.

I will seal you in this Fragment, through your own pride at being unable to accept a loss. So that you may hurt no one else.

You may now hold the game board though the manipulation of that monster, Featherine, but I hold the trump card.

Battler and Beato will never give up. You will never make them surrender. I guarantee it on my name as the Witch of Certainty. No matter how much you twist this story, you will not win.

Beloved~, you will not leave until you rediscover love.

* Where's this from, I wonder? Sounds interesting.

[[WMG:Beatrice will eventually end up marrying every single Ushiromiya.]]Suppose Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are all the same person. In that case, Beatrice is involved with each of the cousins (as Kanon with Jessica, as Shannon with George, as Beatrice with Battler and with Maria in the Mariage Sorcière). Let Eva get too stressed and EVA-Beatrice appears. And of course, Kinzo was completely obsessed with Beatrice. All we need now is for Natsuhi and Kyrie to get in the act and every single Ushiromiya will either be Beatrice or be married to her.

[[WMG:In [=EP6=], Battler was a terrible Game Master.]]The events of [=EP6=] were not due to Erika being a supergenius or detective or anything. The fault, really, lies mostly due to Battler not just holding, but ''juggling'' [[IdiotBall idiot balls]]. His biggest mistakes, from minor to major:** Letting Erika have the duct tape in the first place.** Letting Erika get away with taping his room and not tell him until it came up, when he made the rule that she would have to tell him immediately when she was applying the tape.** Letting Erika out of his sight on the gameboard long enough to let her kill 5 people without him knowing until later.Of course, it's been shown that Battler, while terribly clever, isn't always ''smart''.* To be fair to Battler, 1) The first point was him letting his heart get the better of him, and 2) the second two points are the fault of the Game Master not being an omniscient being.** (OP Here) Of course, this brings up another question... if the Game Master ''isn't'' a an omniscient being when it comes to the happenings and going-ons of the island, or even the opposing player's happenings and going-ons... what ''are'' their powers?*** And what about everything being planned in order for the "miracle" in the end of ep6 to happen? Just like Kinzo is always doing, and there is a lot of comparison between Battler and Kinzo since ep5. Well, if it is not the case, yeah, Battler is really stupid and incompetent. Basically, he was playing in the witch side like a detective, repeating everything, etc, and it can not work.**** Actually...

[[WMG: It is implied that Battler planned everything out in [=EP6=].]]Not only does it make the story much more coherent, but Lambdadelta, someone who knows the entire truth, praised Battler for his "logic error", saying that he surpassed Bern as one who created miracles instead of waiting for one. And if there's a solution to it, then it wasn't really a Logic Error. It was all a Xanatos Gambit to force Beato to revive. He even goes so far as to awkwardly say, "Oh, if only the real Beatrice was here. She'd think of a solution in no time flat." And later, everyone is waiting for Beatrice to show up, to the point of calling her late! To say nothing of the Kinzo parallels of Battler trapping himself in an eternal locked room, pushing all his chips on one space to revive BEATORIICHE.* This is awesome and I want this to be true.* You are my new favourite person, and I love you from the bottom of my heart.** Gosh, guys, thanks for the praise. Makin' me blush here. On that note...

[[WMG: Lambdadelta is actually Good.]]She understands the rules of the game, which means she has Love, and she even says "if you love me, my words should be as Red Truth." The only reason she doesn't give Battler full support is because she wants to keep Bernkastel "glued to the tube" so to speak, so she needs to prolong the game. But when Battler's taking a dive, she shows genuine concern. Not to mention all the theoretical pieces she has on the board, such as Sayo, are hopeless romantics with rose-colored lenses. Her reasons for all this is to make Bern see love, and only then is she allowed to leave the Game. Plus, isn't it the perfect contrast? The Rika expy is totally evil, so logically the Takano expy is...well. Yea. However...* Not to mention that while she did help lock Battler in [=EP6's=] logic error, she seemed to be wholly and completely sympathetic towards him. Sure, she's given her fair share of trolling to Battler... and Bernkastel... and Erika... and Beatrice... But GoodIsNotNice by a long shot.** Help lock him? I don't think so. She was just as surprised when Erika revealed what she did, but it's not that she helped seal him away: she had no choice. She held the position of an impartial judge, and after Erika's move, Battler couldn't find a way to make the two threads of truth connect, and thus a logic error was created. She has no authority to overrule that, unless Battler(or someone else) can come up with a theory to fix the error. As an impartial judge, she could not make a theory herself.

[[WMG: Beatrice(s) is a typhoon(s)]]Fun fact. In 1947, there was a typhoon that passed through the sea of Japan, though it didn't actually hit the country. What was it's name? Beatrice. It was also the 19th typhoon of the year. Coincidence? I think not. We also know that Umineko is a separate universe from the real world with minor historical differences like Higurashi is, so perhaps the rules can be stretched here. Perhaps that typhoon did hit Japan. And, well...there were rumors of an Axis ship that was smuggling illegally obtained Nazi gold to hide which got sunk...perhaps the typhoon shipwrecked it and Kinzo found the gold? It helps that when Rokkenjima is hit by a typhoon that Kinzo declares, "You're late, Beatrice!" Out the window, then claims to give the ring to her by tossing it out into the storming sky.

[[WMG: An attempt to solve the first game]]First twilight: The culprit first took the key to the garden shed, went around the main mansion, killed the first six victims, dragged them into the garden shed, locked them up, drew the magic circle and then returned the key to the servants' room.

Second twilight: Hideyoshi and Eva were poisoned. The culprit was able to switch Hideyoshi's jar of bathing soap with an identical jar of poisoned bathing soap. (This doesn't violate Knox's 4th as there are many well known organic chlorine compounds whose vapors are toxic to humans in even the slightest amounts.) After the culprit made sure that both of them are dead, he used a strong magnet to undo the chain lock on the door to Eva's and Hideoyoshi's room, entered the room with a gas mask on his face, opened the windows to drain the room of the toxic vapor, switched the soap jars, staked the bodies, and then exited the room, locking the door in the same way in which he unlocked it. Once again, he drew the magic circle on the door.

Fourth twilight: The culprit hauled Kinzo's body from the fridge to the incinerator;

The letter: Maria dropped it on the table;

Final three twilights: The culprit entered the parlor, and used a special crossbow to fire the poisoned stakes, one by one, at Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa in that order; He then quickly ran out of the parlor, leaving behind in it Maria and the bodies.

Natsuhi's death: Shot by the culprit using one of the spare Winchester rifles.

Battler, Maria, George and Jessica died in the explosion.

Let's start looking for the culprit through the process of elimination; We have

Kinzou is dead from the start, and in one of the later games, it is stated that neither Battler nor Maria are culprits (applies to all games); Therefore, we can eliminate them from the suspect list; Among the first twilight victims, only Krauss and Shannon didn't have their faces bashed in completely; The second twilight is impossible to fake; A red truth from episode 4's ???? states that Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa really are dead, and that neither one of them is a murderer. Another red truth from episode 4's ???? states that Natsuhi was murdered; Therefore, she cannot be the culprit; All of the cousins were trapped in the parlor when Natsuhi died, so Jessica and George cannot be suspected; Another red truth from episode 4's ???? states that the identities of all the unidentified corpses are guaranteed and that no body double tricks are possible; That rules out all first twilight victims, and we're left with...

There is no 19th person on the island. (Including Kinzou's corpse) This means...

...wait [[FlatWhat what.]]

* Second twilight couldn't work that way, since from the fourth game we have red text about that twilight saying that "[[color:red: ..the murder was carried out with both the victim and the perpetrator in the same room! No method exists for the perpetrator to commit murder from outside the room!]]"* The fourth game red text guaranteeing the identities of corpses doesn't guarantee that anyone they think is dead is in fact dead. Although there is red text that will guarantee Eva, Hideyoshi, Kinzo, Kumasawa, Genji, Nanjo and Natsuhi had died, and although Battler, Maria, George and Jessica were trapped in the parlour at the time of Natsuhi's death, there is nothing in the red text preventing Rudolf, Kyrie, Krauss, Rosa, Gohda, Shannon or Kanon being alive at that time if they had pretended to be dead earlier. As any of the first twilight victims would still need someone outside to let them out, and as Kanon's red text only allows the options of "faked his own death" and "killed by a trap", Shannon and Kanon seem the most likely culprits.

[[WMG: Kanon is Kinzo.]]This could be true regardless of whether or not Shkannon(trice) is true, so we'll leave that variant aside.

Kanon is the only servant, hell the only person period that Kinzo tells to solve the Epitaph. While Kinzo has been dead, Kanon did meet him, and it's already theorized that fantasy!Kinzo's dialogues happened in the past when he was still alive. (And if Kanon is Beatrice, he sort of has to know where the gold is anyway.)

Kanon finds the gold, inherits the legitimate headship and Kinzo's name, and everyone must acknowledge it in [=EP4=]. Cue Goldsmith shenanigans. It also allows for the filling of the [=EP6=] Closed room Logic Error. "Kanon" isn't in the guestroom anymore, he's "Kinzo" now. That, and this all allows Kanon to be with Jessica without having to deal with the ire of her family. Hurray!

[[WMG: Erika is Beatrice is Jessica.]]We've all heard Jessitrice, so we can leave that aside. We also know that Erika doesn't exist, but that she must in some form due to the Red. The solution most-often speculated is that "Erika" is a sort of ball that's passed around as necessary, meaning it's a title assumed by the appropriate character. In this case, I'm assuming it's Jessica. Not only are Erika and Beatrice thematically contrasted, but everyone compares Erika and Jessica. Not only that, but Jessica is pretty much a non-factor whenever Erika's involved in multiple ways. Jessica's already been speculated to have split personalities by Battler himself, and Erika dissolves into gold Beatrice-style when she dies, satisfying the Epitaph by "sleeping forever" by the game's own text! Ontop of that, this can explain why Kanon was necessary to save Batter. If Jessrika met Kanon, she'd probably go sane from whatever's making her effing kill people and generally being a monster-bitch.

[[WMG: All of the Fukuin children are Beatrice candidates.]]Whatever Kinzo wanted from Rosa's Beatrice, he didn't get it. She was like Battler's Beatrice of [=EP6=], an innocent child that had the looks, but not the soul. Thus, when she died, he quite obviously continued trying to revive her. He also started adopting servants from the Fukuin orphanage. We know that someone was going around doing pranks to make the Beatrice legend more believable, and we also know all the Fukuin children were given false furniture names. Perhaps Kinzo (and Kumasawa) were teaching them "magic", such as the furniture of false, maintainable identities, and teaching them basically how to be Beatrice. Shannon/Shkannon may be the "winner." Which would be ironic if this was triggered by Battler.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika's last red truth in the 6th Game and the Following Red Truth do not contradict each other]]]]This ties into the Shannon=Kanon theory. Basically, Erika's red truth was [[color:red:I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!!]] The red truth that followed was [[color:red:Even if you do join us- There are 17 people.]] If we take the word "human" to mean anything that can be classified as a human (even a corpse), and the word "people" to mean number of pieces living (or assumed to be living) on Rokkenjima, then both statements can be true, and it could very well add evidence to the Shannon=Kanon theory.

[[color:blue:Shannon + Kanon = two separate people who happen to share one body.]]* [[color:red: In most cases, including this one, 'human' and 'person' are derived from the same Japanese word in the translation, so trying to make a semantics argument that they're different doesn't work.]]** The person above shall no longer take any part in this game. [[strike:Speaking anything but the truth in red shows that he has no respect for the rules and is therefore not qualified to play.]] Erika used "人間", Battler/Beato used "人". The Witch Hunt translation is correct. Interestingly, "人間" can also mean "character" or "personality" ...*** Oh, shit, I was totally thinking of a different--nevermind, I ballsed up the context. Also way to be a hypocrite; [[strike:you're not allowed to use Gold if you're not the Gamemaster.]] So demoted and your decision repealed.**** [[color:red:Telling someone that they cannot use the Golden Truth equates to saying that they don't understand the rules and Beato. Such statements should not be said lightly.]] Furthermore, due to the absence of an actual Game Master, [[hottip:* :[[color:red:I doubt Ryukishi would show up here, and if he did and made himself known, we'd all call bullshit, even me.]]]] I propose the Golden Truth should be used on this [=WMG=] page [[hottip:* :and the Untranslated page]] to describe events '''AS THEY ACTUALLY HAPPENED''' rather than how others remembered/presented them.***** [[color:red:What was originally presented is merely a theory, and not a statement of fact. Therefore there is no need to get so serious about it.]] Also, all of the above posters make valid points concerning the language barriers between English and Japanese, and the Gold Truth. [[color:blue:Now would be a good time for some tea.]]****** (4th respondent here.) I don't do tea, sorry. Got any Mountain Dew? (OK, now I really think we need a chat room for [=WMG=] discussion.)

[[WMG: The Repentance Enforcement Agencies of the Great Court of Heaven cover every genre of fiction, not just mystery.]]We know there are atleast eight disticts exist, and that two of them investigate heresy involving mystery fiction (the 7th using Knox's rules and the 8th using Dine's). And of course in real life there are people who will claim something isn't a real or fair mystery (and is thus heresy) if it violates whichever rules they support. Such people exist for all genre of fiction and thus it seems plausible that the Great Court of Heaven would have districts for every genre of fiction.* Not gonna call Knox's 8th here, but I would like some evidence in case someone does.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: A living Kinzo could have existed outside of Natsuhi's bed during the fifth game.]]]][[color:blue: The theory "Red truths made during the fifth game can be lies." is correct. Furthermore, Battler's "Kinzo" is a title theory is correct.]][[color:red: According to Erika her investigation showed that a living Kinzo couldn't exist outside the mansion, but she did not say which mansion.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: Kinzo could have existed in Kuwadorian which was not searched.]] Alternativly, [[color:blue: the courtyard counts as being inside the mansion]] and [[color:red: no indication is given that Erika searched the courtyard]]. Thus, [[color:blue: Kinzo could have existed in the courtyard.]]* [[color:green:The discussion that was previously here was moved to the discussion page, as it had little to do with this topic, but does have useful arguments when it comes to Umineko in general.]]

[[WMG: All the hints towards Shkannon theory being true are just epic trolling.]]Note, I'm not really against Shkannon myself, but this would be so Ryukishi07 - made us believe in something just [[ItAmusedMe for teh lulz]], and then present a completely different solution.* That might be interesting. And what sort of alternatives do you propose? ([=EP6=] also presses Shkannontrice pretty fucking hard.)** I think the fact that it was pressed so fucking hard was maybe the point of that troper. Think about it, the cheese scene: it's very unlikely it was pointless. Most people had figured out the actual answer behind the typical "4 slices" one (this troper, not knowing that riddle, thought he had figured out the real answer as well), but Battler and Erika figured out there was another answer beyond the not so obvious one. Just when you think "Shkanontrice is the truth", you will be surprised when someone tells you there was a real truth beyond that. Or so I think.* Kanzo. Kanon solved the epitaph or in some other way inherited the title Kinzo (this idea was proposed in ep 4.) Battler specifically made a point to exclude Kinzo from the "everyone else" statement of who was in the cousin's room, so Kanon could have been anywhere and saved Battler from the guest room. He then escaped either by being Shkanon (he cast off "Kanon" as shown in the fantasy scene and became "Shannon") or by dying after being shot by Shannon (as shown in the fantasy scene.)** That only explains the riddle in [=EP6=] though. How do you account for ALL OF the Shkannon hints?*** Well, this is WMG, I guess. Here's my random guess. Episode 6 basically confirms that Shannon is Beatrice. Shannon actually became a servant on the island when she was insanely young, like 4 I think, and depending on how old Rosa is/was, this fits with being immediately after the imprisoned human Beatrice died. So it seems plausible that Kinzo brought in Shannon to be the new Beatrice. Why? Because "The island must always have a Beatrice." Don't ask me why. Taking this further, if we're assuming Kanzo, "the island must always have a Kinzo." The title is inherited, so there's always a Kinzo. If these two things are true, then it explains all of the hints about the "incomplete soul" or whatever. Shannon can be with Battler and be "beatrice", Shannon can be with George and be Shannon/Sayo (she'd leave the island, violating the idea that "the island must have a beatrice."). The only problem with this is the fact that both of those have to fail if Kanon stays with Jessica. Why couldn't Shannon be with Battler (as Beatrice) and Kanon be with Jessica? The most obvious explanation is Shkannon. Another explanation, and this is a similar mechanism to the one in Higurashi, but perhaps the confirmed explosion only goes off when Shannon fails to be Beatrice (whatever that involves) and Kanon fails to be Kinzo (whatever that involves.) You'll note that one of them (shannon or kanon) always dies before the end of episodes that reach to the end of day 2, when the bomb goes off. So unless Beatrice is the one of the three groups that succeeds, the bomb will go off. Honestly, this is all pretty weak and not terribly supported, and Shkannon is supported very well, but it would be cool.* Minor note, Shannon came to Rokkenjima when she was apparently six. Also, you had me until "If these two things are true, then it explains all of the hints about the "incomplete soul" or whatever." The following doesn't make any sense to me. I like the "There must always be a Beatrice and Kinzo" thing though, but the rest is just waaay too strenuously forced.

[[WMG: Battler was not playing a game of chess with Beatrice.]]It's either a game of Mastermind or Battleship.* Or possibly a messed up Clue game.

[[WMG: The End...]]...is gonna be a rickroll.

[[WMG: EverybodyDidIt]][[color:blue: There was no one killer, no mastermind behind every event. It was a series of accidents, opportunities, and grudges that turned worse. In the end, the destroyer of the Ushiromiya family was in fact, the Ushiromiya family.]]* It seems ridiculous, but it is REALLY possible. It would explain why, after finding the truth, Battler didn't have a grudge against Beato. Because rules-Beato is not really "the killer", there is not "one killer".** Or, to account for accurateness, Everyone did it except Battler, Maria, and whoever Beatrice is.*** Of course, the three of them may have caused other people to do it, whether on purpose or by accident.

[[WMG: Erika used magic while trying to prove that Maria's candy magic wasn't magic.]][[color:blue:The statement,]] [[color:red:Your so-called candy magic is nothing more than a sleight of hand!! Just a sleight of hand that the fake witch calling herself Beatrice or whatever claimed was magic!!]],[[color:blue:refers only to how the candy got inside the cup. It does not explain where the candy came from in the first place.]] We are told that when Erika arrived on Rokkenjima all she had was her swimsuit and her life jacket. Therefore,[[color:blue:she couldn't have had any candy with her when she arrived.]] Furthermore, [[color:red:Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]], no indication is ever given that she had found or been given candy at any point. Therefore, [[color:blue:she must have created the candy using magic.]]* She obviously got the candy from the same place the cousins were.** [[color:red:Knox's 6th. It is forbidden for accident or intuition to be employed as a detective technique.]]*** Cool rule, bro. Good thing I didn't break it huh?**** Unless there is evidence that candy existed in the place the cousins were in, yes you did.***** Since the trick was performed RIGHT THERE by the cousins, all she has to do is either grab a piece of candy from whatever candy bowl is in the room, or reuse the candy while Maria's eyes are closed. Duh.****** Maria and Erika are the only one's who performed the trick. [[color:blue:The candies Maria produced are purely conceptual and do not actually exist. After all if they did exist she would have countered Erika by saying something like]], "You may have put candy under the cup while my eyes were closed. However, [[color:red: when I performed the candy-magic I did not use such a trick."]][[color:blue:Not to mention the fact Maria envied Erika's abillity to perform candy-magic.]] Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest that Erika had access to actual candy.******* I'm pretty sure George or someone slipped the candy under while Maria wasn't looking, which is why it worked. But if you're just going to rely on "purely conceptual candy" then this whole argument becomes meaningless as it's just a metaphor. No trick actually took place on either party's side.******** I interpeted Maria's performence of the trick as being akin to Beato showing Battler a magical murder and asking him to explain how it could have been done without magic. The difference being that rather then simply arguing about it Erika decided to show how candy-magic could be done without magic. I really can't see how the scence would make sense if Maria actually performed the trick, or if Erika didn't perform the trick. If Maria actually performs the trick she has no reason to envy Erika, and if Erika doesn't actually perform the trick Maria has no reason to envy her.

[[WMG: Umineko is one big story created by the Higurashi gang]]Certain parts are created by certain characters; Maria related stuff are both Satoko (/Satoshi?) and Rena related and Battler parts are Keiichi related, for example. Kanon having a machete was put in by Rena. It would explain design similarities too, and why the story is so troll at times.

[[WMG: Beatrice is responsible for the [[AdaptationDecay Adaptation Decay]] in the anime.]]Because she decided to use a different tactic to both give Battler more hints ''and'' screw with his head some more: Show the murders in anime form. The constant [[{{Fanservice}} Fanservice shots]] were there to snap up Battler's attention (given that he is something of a pervert), and the contorted facial expressions served to troll him even harder. However, when it came to depicting the scenes developing her and Battler's relationship, she got into "tsun" mode and didn't want ''too'' much hints about her real feelings for him given away, so she cut down on any scenes suggesting her feelings for him went beyond that of a "worthy opponent".

[[WMG: Bernkastel is jealous of Ange.]]Bern isn't nice to anyone, but she seems to have a particular grudge against Ange and takes every possible opportunity to torment her. Is Bernkastel jealous of Ange? This theory seems unlikely unless Ange's story leads to a happy ending, but why else would Bern focus so much on someone who doesn't even come to Rokkenjima?* Because she's easy to pick on, is more rewarding of a victim due to her emotional tirades and thus much less boring, and if Ange gets her way, the catbox will be broken and Bern won't be able to play with the Gameboard anymore. Quite literally, Ange's the one force who can really validate the destruction of the catbox, as Magic can only be acknowledged by an outside observer. Battler can prove the truth all he wants, but Ange accepting that truth will be what ends everything.

[[WMG: Umineko is Higurashi.]]We already know that different universes exist in the When They Cry series (as explained by Bernie), but I submit that Umineko is Higurashi in a different dimmension. That is to say that in another dimmension, Keiichi is Battler, George is Satoko, Jessica is Mion, Shannon is Rika, Maria is Rena, and Rosa is Shion. However, even though the 12 characters cannot exist in the same realm together (neither can the Hinamizawa Disaster or the Rokkenjima Incident), Rokkenjima and Hinamizawa can exist in the same universe, albeit with a different cast of characters.

[[WMG: The witches are TheFairFolk.]]Their incredibly warped sense of morality fits the bill enough, as does their desire for recognition, like Beatrice demanding the players kiss her feet and praise her name. The sacrifices are actually payments she makes to Hell in return for the use of the demons. It also explains her inability to lie, which is why she has to make up ways around whatever is stated in the red text.** But, Beatrice can lie and probably does so a lot. The only time she has to tell the truth is when compelled by someone using Blue Truth, and she's the one who introduced that in the the first place.*** Maybe she only can't lie in the meta-world? I don't recall her using Red Truth on any of the gameboards so far, but I could be wrong.**** Beatrice lies all the fucking time. She does so every time she says "I'm a witch" or something of the like. It's only the Red that can't lie. She hasn't used Red on the boards because that makes zero fucking sense.

[[WMG: Beatrice's body is made out of the spirits of Akujikishima.]]When she was killed, in 1967 she didn't have enough magic power to interact with the physical world in any way. She thus resorted to consuming the spirits of Akujikishima in order to build up magic power. This explains why she has the same weaknesses they do. However, the spirit mirror limited her abillity to consume them, which is why she wanted Shannon to break it.

[[WMG: Lambdadelta considers her role as the Witch of Certainty more important then beating Bernkastel.]]During the trial Battler tried to use the red truth, [[color:red:Ushiromiya Natsuhi is not the culprit!!!]], but Dlanor countered with Knox's 2nd. Lambda could have backed up Battler's claim and destroyed Erika's theory which may have led to Bern being defeated, but didn't because while Erika was wrong and Battler was right, Erika reached the conclusion that Natsuhi was the culprit though hard work, while Battler was simply told that Natsuhi wasn't the culprit.* Beating Bernkastel was never Lambda's goal; she wants to drag the game out as much as possible. That's why she's on no one's side.

[[WMG: Kinzo's mistress, Beatrice I...]]...was secretly a practitioner of the occult, herself. She sold her soul to Beatrice the Golden, and then ''claimed'' to be her human form because:* Her deal had been for the ten tons of gold, which she gave to Kinzo to manipulate his allegiance and secure a position as adviser of the Ushiromiya family.* Her deal had been to get her close to Kinzo, whom she loved. Afraid she would lose his favor to the witch proprietor, she used it as a ruse to keep him faithful.Because her ruse led to her being Kinzo's adviser and lover, both Kinzo's resulting empire and their child could be taken as Beatrice the Golden's interest. When Beatrice I died in childbirth:* It was a ritual initiated by either herself or Kinzo to give her a new body (Beatrice I may have been aware of the extents of the interest, and intended to keep herself alive to avoid paying).** The ritual worked, but Beatrice was reincarnated without her memories.** Kinzo flubbed the ritual, bringing Beatrice the Golden into the child's body but severely weakening her in the process.** The ritual failed, but Kinzo still believed Beatrice II had the soul of Beatrice I.But it was part of a XanatosGambit by Beatrice the Golden to obtain her full payment and a chance at revival.* When Beatrice II fell off the cliff and died, Beatrice the Golden claimed her form and used it to initiate the sacrifices.** Beatrice's "good" parts aren't just trolling - it's the soul of Beatrice I/II, who is either unaware of her predicament or simply not strong enough to fight back.* Kinzo tried bringing Beatrice back himself. However, due to his madness, poor grasp of magic, and believing Beatrice I/II and Beatrice the Golden to be the same, he flubbed the revival ritual.** He brought back Beatrice's body, but with the soul of Beatrice the Golden inside.** He brought back the vengeful soul of Beatrice I/II, who gave Beatrice the Golden use of her form to drag Kinzo and his family down with her.** He brought back the unwitting soul of Beatrice II, and she either believes herself to be Beatrice the Golden, or is being possessed by her.

*** Even if we assume magic is real, this is Jossed by Episode 3. [[spoiler: And even moreso by Episode 7]]

[[WMG: The "witches" are literally roleplayers]]Really, really bad ones who love to troll, god-mod, and are fighting over who gets to be the spotlight character of the RP. Battler is the poor schmuck who wandered innocently into the forum and ended up getting strung along by all of them; the colored-text battles are him trying to call the "witches" out on their terrible [=RPing=].* Or, they're all extremely GOOD [=RPers=], and it's Battler who sucks.** Would this RPG happen to be titled "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_mhtqEf4F8 Witches & Woodlands]]"?* Alternatively, the witches are all Sim-players. The constant use of a LockedRoomMystery makes perfect sense - [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential it's a favorite tactic]] of Sim-players everywhere. All the characters have ImpossiblyCoolClothes because the witches download modded content.** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xci4LXaYTh0&feature=related As seen here.]][[WMG: Bernkastel did the Final Destination movies.]]Admit it, this is exactly something she'd do.

[[WMG: Beatrice and the "magical" denizens of Umineko are all [[{{Persona3}} Sha]][[{{Persona4}} dows]].]]Beatrice in particular adores giving characters [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal smackdowns about their flaws]], and their BerserkButton is humans denying that they exist. Kanon and Shannon have similar issues to Aigis and Teddie. There's also an awful lot of butterfly symbolism going down between both franchises.* Maria is a Persona User, and Sakutarou is her Persona. Same with Ange, who can summon the Stakes too, having the Wild Card. The Meta-World is the Velvet Room, and most of the witches and demons are obvious in what they represent. Beatrice, especially, is [[spoiler: Shannon's love for Battler forced out of her conscious mind and into another one.]] If that's not a Shadow, I don't know what is.* Philemon and Nyarlathotep even have a challenge similar to the games in the meta-world. And the entire fourth game was about [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome REACH OUT TO THE TRUTH]]. Who knows, maybe we'll start seeing some red text scattered around soon...* Bernkatsel is of course, [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Rika's]] shadow. Or is that canon?** Not to mention that Izanami is voiced by Takano, who Lambdadelta is an {{Expy}} of. What's Izanami's special ability? [[OneHitKill To kill unfailingly!]]

[[WMG:[[color:blue:The use of the terms "humans" and "people" in the last two red truths of the sixth game is a red herring.]]]]Those red truths were made after six people had been killed. In the fourth game it was established that the red truth doesn't count dead people. Therefore, [[color:blue:at the start of the game there were 23 people on the island.]]* You're not accounting for the fact that those truths are timeless.** [[color:blue: Those truths are not timeless, they are reffering to the state the gameboard was in when they were made.]] It won't matter if you counter that since, [[color:blue:Battler and Beato weren't using the same number base as Erika.]]*** If we're going to concede that it's referring to the start of the gameboard, then the point about the six dead people and the conclusion of 23 is negated. Way to shoot yourself in the foot.**** I never said they were reffering to the start of the gameboard, they were made after the game was suspended due to the logic error, and thus are reffering to the state the gameboard was in at 2:34 am on the second day.***** Nevermind, you're not getting what the problem is.****** So far, I've made two arguments supporting my cliam that the difference (if any) between humans and people doesn't matter. Both of which rely on extra people being on the island, the various Love Duels (for example Chick!Beato and Lucifer's duel with Natsuhi) are sufficent evidence to satisfy Knox's 8th, as is Erika and Dlanor's conversation when the former discovered the lack of duct tape. Argument 1: [[color:blue:There were 23 people at the start of the sixth game. Erika was the 18th people (and that status doesn't change when the number of people changes). Erika murdered six people. Bringing the number of people down to 17. The red truths made at the end refer to the condition that the gameboard was in at 2:34 am on the second day.]] Nanjo's murder in the third game showed that the Red Truth is time sensitive. If you would claim that the last two Red Truths of the sixth game were not time sensitive you must present evidence to support that claim. Argument 2: [[color:blue:Both Red Truths are reffering to the start of the game. However, Beato and Battler were using base 13, in other words there were 20 (in base 10) people on the island. The statement 6*9=42 is sufficent to show that base 13 could have been used instead of base 10.]] I will now present a third argument which doesn't rely on any extra prople being on the island. Arguement 3: [[color:red:"I am Furudo Erika, the detective!!" Knox's 7th. It is forbidden for the detective to be the culprit! Someone who appeared to be Erika stated in red, that she killed Rosa, Maria, Eva, Kyrie, and Natsuhi. Knox's 10th, it is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues!]] Therefore, Erika killed those five people. [[color:red: An exception clause to Knox's 7th was mentioned in the fifth game. An exception to Knox's 7th exists in real life namely Knox's 7th only applies if the author claims that the detective is in fact the detective. The resoloution to the logic error was written by Beatrice, ]] [[color:blue: thus making her one of the authors of Dawn]][[color:red: and she acknowledged Erika as the detective using the white text.]] [[color:blue: This is sufficent to show that Erika couldn't have been acting under the exception clause. color:blue: This leads us to "Erika is the culprit." and "Erika cannot be the culprit." This contradiction can be resolved in two ways. One, they are reffering to two different people (i.e. Piece!Erika is the culprit, and Meta!Erika can't be culprit). Two, they are reffering to two different worlds (i.e. Erika is the culprit of the sixth game, and Erika cannot be the culprit of the fifth game. Thereofore the final two Red Truths of the sixth game refer to either different Erikas or more likely different worlds.]]* If there were six people unaccounted for, then a Logic Error was never even at risk. If Erika knew there were more people, her blues would have been ineffective. Moreover, [[color:red: There are no more than 18 people. This applies to all games.]] The two Reds needn't necessarily be time-sensitive. While Eva-Beatrice's riddle was, there were many that explicitly weren't. Erika's red simply references how her presence boosts the initial number count by one (She can't "introduce" herself at any point but at the beginning of the game, see?) And Battler and Beato expose a part of Beatrice's heart, a little bit of the truth that supercedes all games: Even if Erika is here, the count would only be 17.** Erika factored in the possibillity of other people when she set up the logic error. "[[color:red: I acknowledge that everyone else is in the cousins' room.]] That being said, if I understand you correctly you're saying "Erika is the 18th person" is the truth of ''Dawn'' and ''End''. While "There are only 17 people" is the truth of Rokkenjima-prime, right?*** Close enough, yea. It was stated that defeating Erika would reveal a part of Beatrice's heart, after all, and Beatrice is a personification of the mystery.

[[WMG: Hachijo Toya wasn't the only author of ''Banquet'' and ''Alliance''.]]She co-wrote them with someone else, but their partnership broke up for Reason X afterwards. This explains why the style of those two forgeries is so different from the style of her later forgeries.* Or she lied outright.

[[WMG: The meta-reality is total bullshit.]]

There isn't any reason to believe that it follows reality at all, or that Beatrice is ever telling the truth. In fact, the necessity of the creation of a specific universe with its own rules to "prove" that magic is real, instead of simply doing something else magical in the real world, speaks to this. Battler could just as easily avoid all this nonsense by destroying the meta-world by telling Beatrice to fuck off behind him, what what.* The Meta-World was [[color:red: created for the purpose of being with Battler]], not to convince him to accept magic.

[[WMG: Battler and Beatrice are just a couple of ''really'' drunk friends trying to recall something-or-other.]]Each retelling gets increasingly bizarre, with more 'magical' elements and characters added each time.* I demand fan art of this. Right now.

[[WMG: Okonogi spoke of world peace for a reason.]]It turns out that actually Kinzo's epitaph leads not just to the gold, controversial in itself, but also a secret cache of weaponry and multi-national secrets. The Ushiromiya family found them out, and if word got out, World War III would have broken out and caused the collapse of multiple governments of First World Nations all over the planet. Therefore, to keep this from happening, Shkannon, an orphan from Fukuin house (actually a secret plant for training shadow government assassin agents) was assigned with observing the Ushiromiyas and silencing them if things turned bad. Therefore, by killing the Ushiromiyas, the entire world was saved from nuclear fallout. It is for this reason that Beatrice martyred herself as a supernatural witch, as Shkannontrice felt sympathy for the family (especially Battler) and wanted them to die as heroes in service of mankind and it's future.

[[WMG:Erika is Maria]]As the 'Erika is Jessica' theory above, but:* We know that Maria is ferociously intelligent.* We know Maria has been through some fairly traumatic events which might cause her to act out against her former hippy-dippy witchy ways and replace them with a core of cold hard rationality.* They ''look'' the same age.* Erika's backstory, about the cheating boyfriend who she couldn't prove ''didn't'' love her, is a straight copy-paste of Maria's relationship with her mother.* The throwaway line in Episode 1 about how children Maria's age spend a lot of time 'trying on' new personalities.* Maria's 'witch battle' against Erika would suddenly be much more exciting.

It follows that...

* Maria is not Erika. Maria's trauma is what caused her to ferociously involve herself in witch games in the first place, and there's nothing to suggest her character would change in such a dramatic way. Really, Maria and Erika have just about nothing in common whatsoever.

[[WMG: Maria is the detective]]Battler and Maria are almost never separated, so Battler's testimony is 'locked in' to the Detective's objective observations for most of the story. Maria is conveniently absent when Battler meets Beatrice in the flesh in Episodes 2 and 4, and also when he inspects the bodies in the shed in Episode 1, all events that are surounded with mystery and innuendo for other reasons.

There's precedent: Murder mystery tradition dictates that that detective be the smartest and most eccentric person in the room, and the narrator be their not-quite-so-smart sidekick.

* [[color:red:Until Episode 5, Battler was the Detective.]] Then it was Erika, then Erika for a part of it and then no one.** [[color:blue: That Red Truth you paraphrased is refering to meta!Battler, not piece!Battler. Battler is indeed the detective in the metaworld. However, on the gameboard Maria is the detective.]]*** [[color:blue: It refers to both of them. Meta-Battler controls Piece-Battler, who, as long as Battler didn't give up, never experienced anything supernatural, always had a right to look at the bodies, was never killed until the end. He represented the human side on-board and off, just like Erika.]]**** [[color:blue: Dlanor wanted Battler to think that red was reffering to both Battlers, but it wasn't.]] Also, doesn't the right to examine bodies fall under "detective's authority" [[color:red:which is something that we were told Battler never had.]] Being the detective doesn't automaticly give someone "detective's authority" it simply prevents one from falsifying one's viewpoint.***** When were we told Battler never had the Detective Authority? Putting that aside, his viewpoint was unfalsifiable, meaning he had some sort of Authority. Just because he never actively used it doesn't mean he never had it. Battler has the right to do all sorts of things he never invoked, like the Blue Truth before Episode 4.****** Around the same time Erika revealed she didn't intend to make the detective's proclamation. Also, Battler didn't have the right to invoke the Blue Truth until Beato gave him the right to use it.

* In the sixth game, when Erika and Maria were arguing about Beato's candy magic, Erika asked Maria to confirm that she was telling the truth in red. Dlanor claimed refusal would be a violation of Knox's 7th. [[color:blue:Since Knox's 7th goverens the actions of the detective, only the detective can violate it. In other words, Maria was the detective of the sixth game.]]

[[WMG: The Mad Staker is...]]None of the parents could do it. None of the kids could do it. None of the servants could do it. A Nanjo-Shannon alliance could ''almost'' do it. Jessica could just about do it, if you assume she managed to fake her death in "Turn of the Golden Witch".

But aren't we overlooking someone? Someone very close to the heart of the case, someone who is verifiably alive at the time of each staking, someone with ample opportunity to do the deed, perhaps while the camera is away focusing on another character?

[[color:red:Battler isn't a killer.]] But he makes one hell of an accomplice.* Battler can't be an accomplice, he's the Detective. And there's no stakings so far in Chiru, so...

[[WMG: Stakers and Fakers]]An odd thing happened to Hideyoshi in Episode 5. In a closed room, he lay down on the bed and was run through by a demon stake.

So it's a fake: a pretend murder to pressure Natsuhi. But... there's something ''bizzare'' about it. Why would the 'fakers' stumble across the exact same method of murder as the killer from the previous four episodes? There's nothing in the epitaph to suggest goetic stake murder: only a vague suggestion that body parts be 'gouged'. What are the odds of the 'fakes' reinventing the 'real' stakings they know nothing about?

So.

Somewhere there is a cardbord box. The box contains stakes (some of them cunningly halved so as to harmlessly appear to pierce a body), stage blood, stencils (for the quick printing of magic circles) and other tricks of the pseudo-witch trade. The box was either assembled by the real deal and found by the fakers, or assembled by the fakers and found by the real one. The latter sounds slighty more plausible -- it also fits the series theme of fake things become real.* Why is it a fake? It can be solved the same way as the second twilight of Episode 1, or even how Natsuhi was supposed to be in the room herself - the killer was hidden somewhere in the room when Hideyoshi locked it, came out, killed him, then hid again. As in Episode 1, they didn't think to search the room, but this time if they had they would have found Natsuhi and assumed she was the killer instead!

[[WMG:1998 is a fantasy]]Ange's persecution at the hands of a vast and faceless conspiracy, her flight across the nation in the company of her idealised boyfriend-figure, all that monkeying about with bank vaults and codes and bottle letters, did not exactly so to speak entirely honestly really... happen.

Like the man from ''An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'', she escaped a fall that should have killed her, had many exciting adventures on the run, returned home, buried her demons and... suddenly broke out into a rash of fatal wounds. Turns out the whole adventure was a fantasy flashing before her eyes in the instant before she died.

I'd hate to pull the trigger on this 'nuclear option', but it sure would explain a bunch.

* Why does anything need to explain? The conspiracy is plausible, realistic, and in line with the Ushiromiya family's sordid financial business. Amakusa is hardly an idealised boyfriend-figure (especially since he probably killed her), the bank vaults and codes and bottle letters are real...and it's not all that odd for someone to survive a fall like that if they bounce off of soft canopies like that. Besides, the "everything was a dying dream" thing is cliche.** [[color:red: Dine's 19th. The motives for all crimes in detective stories should be personal. International plottings and war politics belong in a different category of fiction — in secret-service tales, for instance. But a murder story must be kept gemütlich, so to speak. It must reflect the reader's everyday experiences, and give him a certain outlet for his own repressed desires and emotions.]]*** Too bad Ange's 1998 is not a detective story, huh?**** [[color:blue:UminekoNoNakuKoroNi is a detective story.]] [[color:red:Ange's 1998 is part of UminekoNoNakuKoroNi.]] Therefore, Ange's 1998 is part of a detective story.***** Sure, it's part of Umineko, but the entirety of Umineko is not a Mystery story; it's a blend of genres. The Meta-World is not strictly Mystery, and there are multiple Fantasy scenes on the Gameboard. The thing is, by definition, 1998 doesn't qualify as Mystery because Ange's perspective isn't reliable as her journey breaks a lot of Knox and Dine rules, which, by the way, only need to apply to the Gameboard, because only the Gameboard needs to follow Mystery rules. Reality isn't bound by Narrative Causality.****** [[color:red:There are mysteries that don't follow Knox or Dine.]]

[[WMG: Bern and Erika never intended to trap Battler in a Logic Error.]]There real intention was to show that Battler didn't understand the truth of Beato's game. The Logic Error they set up had a flaw he could have used to escape. Namely, he could have claimed his piece left the room using magic. However, we know from the fifth game that Beato's games were solvable and that magic apparently doesn't count as a valid soloution. If Battler had used magic as the soloution the game would have continued until the end, but Lambda would judge that Battler had not reached the truth of Beato's game. Thus, either returning things to how they were at the start of the fifth game, or giving Erika a chance to be the Game Master.* [[color:blue: Magic cannot do things you cannot do without magic,]] so no, it would not be a valid solution. The thing is, there's really no such thing as an inescapable Logic Error, just like there's no unsolvable mystery. A Logic Error is proclaimed if the Game Master is unable to explain the trick, not when the trick is unexplainable.** Of course there's no such thing as an inescapable Logic Error, it's flat out stated that in order to escape the Game Master simply has to admit that the error exists.*** Which results in death. That's not exactly what I meant by "escape".**** It was only stated that the gameboard would be destroyed as a result. BATTLER's goal was not to create a coherent story, it was to show that he understood the truth of Beato's game. Admitting the logic error would have certanitly hurt his chances of doing this. However, as long as he didn't stop trying to prove he understood Beato's game he would not die. Actually, since Beato is the one who actually solved the Logic Error, it's likely that BATTLER had succeeded in proving he understood Beato's game before the Logic Error had even occurred. ***** And as the Gamemaster, he would suffer if the board was destroyed, just like Beato did earlier. Damaging the game damages it's owner; if it was so easy to just waltz out of a Logic Error, it wouldn't be so traumatizing to Bern and Lambda. Anyway, I would say that Battler actually PLANNED the Logic Error, and it was a bit Kinzo-style gambit to revive Beatrice by putting pressure on her. See my above theory about it.

[[WMG: The first twilight of the sixth game could not have been accomplished without magic.]][[color:red:[Erika] rekilled [Rosa, Maria, Kyrie, Natsuhi, and Eva].]] [[color:blue:Rekill means to kill someone or something that has already been killed. Killing means making a living thing into a dead thing. Dead things are not living things. A dead thing cannot be made into a living thing without magic.]]* [[color:red: Everyone...was certainly alive before I killed them.]] She took people who were "killed" by the competing lovers and "rekilled" them so they were actually dead. The Red Truth can allow for repeating fictions, since none of the Gameboards actually happened.** That red can be explained with, [[color:blue:Erika revived the victims using magic, and then rekilled them.]] If the first deaths were false in the context of the gameboard, Erika wouldn't be able to say she rekilled them in that context.*** [[color:blue: Magic cannot do something that cannot be done by human means.]] So Erika could not have revived them with magic. However, the characters were "playing dead." It's a fiction nested within another fiction, so there's absolutely no problem. I think your issue is that you're interpretting the Red too literally, and don't seem to realize how many layers are at work, here.**** [[color:red:Erika is human.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:even if she were to use magic to accomplish something that can only be accomplished with magic she still did it via human means.]]***** Well, actually Erika was the Witch of Truth during the span of Episode 6, admittedly.

[[WMG:UminekoNoNakuKoroNi is based off of a true story.]]Why else would the this is a work of fiction disclaimer be in white instead of red?* And the title of the story is really just "Na", and Higurashi never happened. We've been hardcore trolled.

[[WMG:Erika didn't fall off the boat, she jumped.]]Bitch is crazy; she could've done it just cause, or she was suicidal over her boyfriend's betrayal.

[[WMG: The Ushiromiya gold...]]... used to belong to the Knox family. Dlanor will solve the epitaph to reclaim it, then have the gold moved to a high-security [[StealthPun fort.]]

[[WMG:Sakutaro and EVA are related]][[MusicalSpoiler Their themes are a little too related for This Troper.]] We can only hope we are being trolled, or else that stuffed lion is a greater troll than Fermat.* Because music in Umineko have NEVER been remixed for use outside of thematic reasons. No sirree, not at all. Never.

[[WMG:The Siestas were made in Iceland]]Why else would they have the national flag on their arms?

[[WMG:Battler's sin is not finishing HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi]]12-year-old Battler is reading this book HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi (which he namedrops in Ep. 1). Let's pretend it's a choose-your-own adventure book with about a million ways to die and only one Good End. Battler takes this book with him to Rokkenjima to kill time, but gets frustrated with it, rage-quits, and accidentally leaves it lying around somewhere on the island. Because of the falling out with his father, he never returns to retrieve it, and he never contacts anyone on the island to send it back to him. Eventually, he forgets about finishing the series entirely.

Meanwhile, poor little Rika Furude has a bit of a problem on her hands: her master suddenly just... stopped playing/reading. She has no hope of reaching that one good end now - she'll just be killed in the same ways over and over.

Eventually, something very unlikely occurs and Rika manages to reach that single good end by herself and becomes Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles because of it. She's not happy though. Most pieces aren't after being abandoned by their master to be repeatedly killed for no rhyme or reason.

Bernkastel decides that she can only be satisfied with revenge. The next time Battler returns to Rokkenjima, she's going to make him experience the same hell she had to go through...

[[WMG: The reason Bernkastel is evil...]]Is because she saw Rika's horrible performance in the Higurashi English dub. So horrible was the attempt at Nii-pah that it caused her to hate all reality.

to:

[[AC:For episodes that have not yet been translated (Right now: episode 7 of the {{Visual Novel}}s), see [[index]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiOpenOne Open Theories, Part One]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiOpenTwo Open Theories, Part Two]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiJossed Jossed Theories]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiConfirmed Confirmed Theories]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiSilly Silly and Just For Fun Theories]]* [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated]].]]

[[WMG: Full Theory to ''Legend of the Golden Witch'']]Hi guys. To the people who visit this page, please attack my theory and tell me if this is a viable solution to Episode 1. Here goes. '''MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.'''

A word of note: Please be reminded of [[color:red:Knox's 9th: It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions be heard.]]

'''THE CULPRIT''':First, [[color:blue:I propose that the term “furniture” refers to the status of a person as the servant of “Kinzo Ushiromiya”. As such, when Kinzo Ushiromiya died, all persons with the title of “furniture” lost their status as such, and without an heir to the name of “Kinzo Ushiromiya”, all those with the prior title of “furniture” also lose their status as “servants”.]]

[[color:red:Presentation of hints!]] [[color:blue:It has been implied that the furniture status may be discarded! No hints to the conditions, however, I also propose that in order for the illusion of Kinzo being alive to remain, the "furniture" were still asked to refer to themselves as such in order to hide the fact of Kinzo's death! But technically, they don't have a master anymore, so they don't count as servants!]]

Going by this assumption, [[color:blue:I propose that Kanon is the culprit!]] This way, [[color:blue:Van Dine's 11th is fulfilled]], [[color:red:which states that 'it is forbidden for servants to be the culprit'.]]

[[color:blue:I also propose that at the very least, the following people are involved: Kumasawa, Genji, and Nanjo. Reasons for this will be explained later.]]

'''FIRST TWILIGHT''':Simple enough. [[color:blue:The culprit killed the victims in their rooms, then stashed their bodies in the shed, possibly with help. At the time the bodies were in the shed, some of the corpses were disfigured in order to give the possibility that the disfigured corpses are actually faked, thus shifting the blame to the disfigured corpses.]]

[[color:blue:I propose that the corpse identified as “Shannon” existed with that name at one point in time, and was killed (or had died) prior to this point of time. Assuming that “Shannon” was already dead before October 4, 1986, then the “Shannon” that the cousins have interacted with is actually Kanon, or vice versa.]]

'''SECOND TWILIGHT''':The culprit killed Eva and Hideyoshi in this manner: [[color:blue:he knocked on the door, prompting Eva to open it. Once the culprit was inside, he killed Eva, then Hideyoshi, and then waited inside the closet until someone would arrive and cut open the chain. If it was one of the co-conspirators, he would merely pretend that he was one of the first to discover the corpses. If it was not, he would have remained inside the closet until the rest of the people discovered Hideyoshi’s body in the bath tub, a blind spot which would allow the culprit to sneak in and mingle with the rest of the family.]]

'''FOURTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:Kinzo's corpse was disposed of by any of the people who know about his death in order to hide the fact that he died before October 4, 1986.]]

'''FIFTH TWILIGHT''':This is the most crucial part of the argument. [[color:blue:Kanon did not die. An object, perhaps a notebook, was lodged in his clothing, which prevented a stab wound from the stake from penetrating into his body. Any blood found on the scene was probably faked using paint, ketchup, or any similar material. After that, his “corpse” was carried to Doctor Nanjo. The onlookers were probably chased out of the room while Kanon was being “treated”, and when Doctor Nanjo got out of the room, the illusion of Kanon’s “death” is completed.]]

[[color:red:Presentation of hints! Kanon's death was not an accident, and Kanon did not commit suicide!]] [[color:blue:The red truths have not been violated, and Beatrice's refusal to say that it was a homicide is the vital clue to this argument!]]

'''SIXTH, SEVENTH, EIGHTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:By supposing Kanon’s death as faked, the triple murder of Nanjo, Kumasawa, and Genji is now solvable. Kanon, disguised as Beatrice, ordered Maria to turn around and drown out all noises while Kanon killed the three people. Afterwards, he called Kinzo’s study to draw out Natsuhi and the other cousins.]]

'''NINTH TWILIGHT''':[[color:blue:The murder of Natsuhi is also solvable by supposing Kanon’s fake death. Kanon lured Natsuhi out using the letter of unknown contents, and then killed her.]]

'''MOTIVE''':[[color:blue:Kanon’s motive is love.]] Recall that [[color:red:Jessica and George survived until the tenth twilight.]] [[color:blue:I propose that Shannon/Kanon committed the murders in order to get rid of the remaining obstacles to their relationship with George/Jessica. By the tenth twilight, Shannon/Kanon would have picked which identity to adopt, thus fulfilling the relationship of one while destroying the other. However, the remaining survivors died before that could happen, finally killing everyone on the island.]]

Well, what do you think, everyone...?

* Pretty good overall, and generally I agree, but if I may raise a few points and questions. 1) The definition of "servant" here bugs me; it seems like an escapist twist. They call themselves servants, they act as servants, and they unconditionally obey Krauss and Natsuhi's orders, acknowledging Krauss as the heir. 2) Shannon's corpse was never seen by Battler, so it need not be there at all. Hideyoshi may have been cooerced into cooperating, then killed. 3) Jessica was with Kanon's body for a good period, almost until the point he "died." Unless she's stupid, she should have noticed something. 4) Maria and Battler lived to the end too. Are they for Beatrice?** 1) [[color:red:Addendum to the hints presented:]] [[color:blue:Only Gohda and Kumasawa are servants who have not called themselves "furniture", and they have not been directly employed by Kinzo.]] It's possible that the parents have some degree of control over them, but it seems that their general loyalty is towards Kinzo. Also, no heir has been announced yet, since Kinzo is still "alive". There's still leeway for the theory to be true. 2) It's also possible that the corpses were misidentified, which still counts as "[[color:red:their identities being guaranteed,]] because the method of identification may not have been conclusive. 3) Hm. I have to re-check that. But if Battler didn't witness it (since he's the detective), then "Jessica being with Kanon" may not have happened. Or that Kanon's just that really good at playing dead. 4) They weren't really interfering, so there was no need to kill them. If they did, then they would've died anyway.*** 1) Kumasawa was definitely directly hired like Genji was, serving Kinzo since Krauss and the siblings were still young children. It is strongly implied that Shannon and Kanon weren't initially hired by Kinzo, but rose through the ranks. 2) If the corpse identities were misidentified, then the Red is made invalid. Everyone has to be who they're said to be in that particular scene, but there's still leeway for Shannon's corpse to not exist. 4) I would wager that Battler and Maria's lives are much more important to the Shkanontrice murderer than Jessica and George, considering that Jessica and George tend to die fairly early and that Battler and Maria usually live until the very end. When Maria doesn't live that long, it's implied to be a different murderer.*** [[color:red:Addendum:]] It seems that only the one-winged eagle servants call themselves furniture, so Kumasawa still probably doesn't count as furniture. [[color:blue:Just because you're directly hired doesn't mean that you'll count as furniture, so it's possible that being one of the One-Winged Eagle has something to do with the "furniture" status.]] 4) Well, that doesn't change the fact that Battler, Maria, George and Jessica didn't die until the very end in Episode 1. So I wager that it doesn't matter whether they're left alive or dead until the end. Also, [[color:blue:I wager that Battler has detective immunity, so he can't die until the end. He has to observe all of the crimes before dying so that the reader may have equal opportunity in solving the crimes.]] [[color:red:He has been confirmed as the detective in Episode 5 by Dlanor.]]* I believe you're at least heading in the right direction, but I think part of your argument is not needed. You ended up tagging on a bunch of stuff to take care of Van Dine's 11th, but I'm not sure it even applies. As supporting evidence, I would like to highlight Dlanor's explanation of Knox's rules in the Episode 5 ????? section, where she explains that [[color:red:"Knox's 3rd. It is forbidden for secret passages to exist."]] doesn't deny the possibility of secret passages, but instead denies the possibility of "secret passages that cannot be found by the detective", as well as the original Van Dine's rule #11, which appears to have more to do with characters that are BeneathSuspicion. It should be forbidden for servants who only act as servants with no evidence against them presented (in line with Knox's 8th) to be the culprit. Apart from Gohda, I don't believe this applies to any of the servants on Rokkenjima.* A lot of these things do make sense, but also remember that if Shannon is Beatrice, then despite being a servant she's the legitimate Ushiromiya successor and [[spoiler:a family member]], meaning that she's exempt from the "servants can't be the culprit" rule.

[[WMG: The solution to the first sound novel is that there is not just one culprit, but a conspiracy]]This troper hasn't seen this anywhere else on this page, so I'll post here. This a Pro-Mystery solution to ''Legend of the Golden Witch'' that assumes that magic does not exist. There are spoilers from the first sound novel as well as spoilers from later sound novels, read at your own risk. This troper has edited the WMG for spelling, grammar, and coherence.

''Part 1: The ones who plan the Twilights.'' In this solution an assumption is made that there is a conspiracy involving Eva, Rudolph, Hideyoshi, Kyrie, Genji, & Dr. Nanjo. The possible motives for these six are as follows: 1)Eva wants George (or herself) to be family head. 2)Rudolph desperately needs a large amount of money to get himself out of trouble. 3)Hideyoshi supports his wife. 4)Kyrie supports her husband. 5)Genji and Nanjo are shown to be Kinzo's best friend and may believe that Kinzo would've wanted Eva to be head or that Krauss is not honoring their best friend's memory. It is established early on that Eva and Rudolph are by far the closest of the four siblings and in my opinion are two most likely to conspire together while leaving Rosa out of their scheme. It's not hard to see one of the two (probably Dr. Nanjo) revealing to either Eva or Hideyoshi about being forced to cover up Kinzo's death.

''Part 2: The Witch's Letter.'' Included in this theory is that Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are multiple personalities in one body. Genji and Kumasawa are aware of this and actively cover it up. Possibly because they are protective of Shannon, who's been working as a maid since she was 6 and is bullied by Natsuhi. Notice that only scenes involving either Genji and/or Kumasawa do we also see Shannon and Kanon at the same time. The personality Beatrice is the one responsible for all of the murders and is the one who gives Maria the Witch's Letter. Beatrice also writes and seals all Witch's Letters for this game. I could go into further detail about the how and why of Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice but that would be for another WMG. After Maria reads the letter at dinner but before the meeting later that night between the parents is when the plan is hatched. If the murder of Krauss is believed by all to be the fault of the Witch Beatrice, then Eva can be head of the family without suspicion. This is why everyone needs to believe that witch is real.

''Part 3: The First Twilight.'' The first twilight victims were Krauss, Rosa, Gohda, and a body faked to be Shannon's. Both Rudolph's and Kyrie's deaths are faked. Krauss is the primary target. Rosa is killed because she's seen as threat to the plan. Gohda is killed because he is seen as Krauss' agent. A reason why Natsuhi is not in the first twilight is because of the unstable Beatrice. Shannon was patrolling the halls of the mansion when she saw golden butterflies which probably signified that Beatrice was surfacing. But why? Because she sees Kruass, Rosa, and Gohda being murdered! This Beatrice joins the group of conspirators and wants Kanon and Shannon dead so she can be 'real'. The fake Shannon body is prepared to appease Beatrice. Note that the fake Shannon body was probably not all that convincing, which is why Hideyoshi did not want anyone else to see it when the first twilight is discovered the next day, though Kanon does see it and is convinced she's dead. This symbolic killing of the Shannon personality also gives a reason why Shannon never resurfaces.

''Part 4: The Rest of the Twilights.'' All dead bodies with stakes in them are staged except for one. Dr. Nanjo is around to say that the staged deaths are genuine. Kinzo's body was cremated by one of the conspirators who have faked thier death. The only 'stake murder' that was not staged was Kanon's. As Kanon is pursuing whoever burned Kinzo's body, the Beatrice alter surfaces and tries to kill Kanon. Dr. Nanjo tries so desperately to save Kanon because this wasn't a part of the plan. It is also possible that Dr. Nanjo succeeds and fakes Kanon's death. After that is when everyone holes up in Kinzo's study. Either Dr. Nanjo, Genji, or Maria provide the Witch's Letter III which causes Natsuhi to kick them out of the study. Note that only Kumasawa actually protests leaving while Genji and Dr. Nanjo know this part of the plan and Maria is, well, deluded.

The final set of murders, with Maria singing facing the wall are also staged. It's not hard to imagine either Eva, Kyrie, or the Beatrice alter (if Kanon's body survived) dressing up as Beatrice to convince Maria to play along. Kumasawa is forced to become part of the conspiracy or die. Nobody actually inspects the three dead bodies all that closely. The final letter was a challenge to draw Natsuhi away from the children. Natsuhi either kills herself or is murdered. At the end Battler and the other see the costumed Beatrice, who Maria hugs. And that's where the Sound Novel ends. * Good work, except for two minor points. 1) The Beatrice personality would have come first, and 2) [[color:red: Dine's 13th: No secret societies or conspiracies. The murderer, too, needs a sporting chance to outwit the detective.]]* Original poster here. • Original poster here. Originally I conceded that Beatrice personality came first, I no longer believe that to be the case. I will argue Dine's 13th. The only way Dine's rule 13 as well as [[color:red:Dine's 12th: There can only be one murderer. The villain could have a helper or "co-plotter," but only one is going to get the ax in the matter.]] could apply is if there's only one 'killer'. Because of the possiblity of Kanon's stabbing being fatal I put forth that the Beatrice alter killed Krauss, Rosa, and Gohda without joining the conspiracy. The alter is triggered by stress, which I believe is true of real DID. The stress and conflicted emotions triggered the Beatrice alter to surface on the first night. The Beatrice alter shows up at the parents' meeting, offers to kill them/is told that if it kills them it'll be real and demands that the conspiracy kills Shannon as well. This is preferable for the conspiracy because then their hands are technically clean. They appease the alter with the fake Shannon body. The conspirators transported the dead bodies and the fake ones into the tool shed. The Beatrice alter is the only 'killer' since after the first twilight only Kanon's murder is actually real. The alter manifests because of the stress Kanon feels that causes him to make his epic speech. In summation, the alter only plays along because it only cares about being 'real' and killing Shannon and Kanon. It enjoys people saying that Beatrice 'exists'. At the end Natsuhi kills herself or is killed by the Beatrice alter who has dressed itself up to resemble the Beatrice portrait. *** Respondent here. First off, can I request we drop the Alter word? It's technically outdated since modern models of DID don't hold that there's a "host" personality anymore, and it's actually sort of offensive to actual Multiples. Moving on, Beatrice's motives don't work here, because [[color:red: Beatrice did not kill because of money or revenge]], and these are pretty Vengeance-y motives. But then, I would argue that Beatrice is herself actually 100% innocent of all crimes, and is just martyring herself.*** Original poster here. Sorry about using that word, I didn't realize that it was offensive. I'm glad that you don't seem to disagree about there being a conspiracy as long as the killer is separate from that conspiracy. The 'being a martyr' motive I believe applies more to Meta-Beatrice than this Beatrice. I don't want to offend, but would you please elaborate why you think that motive fits more? I'm also curious where that red text came from. I'll admit that Beatrice's motive is the biggest guess in this theory. The motive I described is not exactly 'revenge' as it is wanting be in sole control of the body. To take revenge Beatrice needs to feel wronged or want to punish Shannon or Kanon. If she wants to kill them anyway it's not exactly revenge. Assuming that the Beatrice in that red text refers to the symbolic "true culprit" there isn't really anyone else in the first sound novel who wouldn't want to kill for money and/or revenge. A possible reason for wanting to be in sole control is that Beatrice wants to be with Battler the same way Shannon and Kanon want to be with George and Jessica respectively. That is, her primary motivation for killing is love. Another thing that I believe supports this motive is that Shannon and Kanon are both acknowledged by everyone while Beatrice is hardly acknowledged at all. Besides Shannon and Kanon only Genji, Kumasawa, who in this theory are the only ones who know of DID, and Maria actually believe Beatrice exists. Anyone would be angry if the person they have a crush on doesn't even believe they exist. * From Episode 4, regarding Eva and Hideyoshi in Episode 1: [[color:red: "Both were killed by another person! It is not the case that, after the construction of the closed room, one of them committed suicide after committing murder! Furthermore, the murder was carried out with both the victim and the perpetrator in the same room! No method exists for the perpetrator to commit murder from outside the room!"]] Eva and Hideyoshi were confirmed in red to have been killed, so their deaths were not faked. From Episode 4, referring to the parlour murders in Episode 1: [[color:red: "Maria, who was in the same room, did not kill them! And of course, the three were killed by other people!"]] Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa are confirmed in red to have been killed, so their deaths were not faked.** Original poster here: If Eva, Hideyoshi, Nanjo, Genji, and Kumasawa did not fake their deaths then they were killed by 'Beatrice'. Genji could have advised Beatrice as Ronove as to which people were killed, how they were killed, and during which twilight. The deaths were originally supposed to be faked but then Beatrice decided to kill them for reals.

[[WMG: Gaap is Jessica]]This is mostly running off the assumption Shkanon is Beatrice, but even otherwise I feel like it's justifiable.

Anyway, I say she's Jessica mostly because of Gaap's profile saying that She and Beatrice are best friends, which is the same relationship between Jessica and Shannon. More evidence is Jessica actually LIVING there, thereby knowing the mansion by heart, which is a given for Gaap, the transporter. If we run on this assumption, Jessica killing George in the 4th episode becomes perfectly clear- she had to be one of the culprits, which is why her phone call to battler seemed so sketchy. Why she died? I still dunno. But anyway, that's a different subject. Of course, if Beatrice is actually Jessica instead, I would want to say that Shannon is Gaap, but it doesn't seem logical, and somehow I feel like the love demons represent Shannon and Kanon anyway.* I doubt it, since Jessica being Gaap means [[spoiler: that Jessica has to be in the know about Shkannon and Beatrice's identity and know that she's solved the Epitaph and is the true head.]] None of that fits Jessica's profile.** Why would that be implausible? All Jessica/Kanon interactions are away from Battler's eyes. It's not concrete that Jessica doesn't know what goes on.*** That's...quite incorrect. Before the murders begin, Battler often has plenty of opportunity to see how Jessica and Kanon feel about each other. That aside, it's against the rules of the gameboard for pieces like Jessica and Kanon to act in ways they wouldn't or couldn't. If they don't have feelings for each other, they cannot behave as if they do even in fantasy scenes. To say nothing of Ryukishi has said otherwise on his blog, calling the falsification of the romances a "cruel trap" he wouldn't indulge in. Unless you can account for Jessica loving Kanon while being 100% aware of his true nature, this theory doesn't work. Besides, we have no real evidence to think Gaap has a human vessel like other meta-characters do. [=EP7=] implied that she represents not a person, but a phenomenon that was made into an imaginary friend. **** [[color:blue:Gaap is the]] {{Anthropomorphic Personification}} [[color:blue:of people losing small objects such as car keys, portable video game cartridges and the remote.]] That is a better theory by the logic that she represents a phenomenon rather than a human.

[[WMG:Bernkastel's equivalent of Beatrice's Stakes of Purgatory are the Higurashi {{Nakama}}]]Because something tells me we haven't seen the last of them. Also, with Hanyuu, who is implied to be a creator, they could bring them from any given world. Their uniform would be Angel Mort's waitress outfit....yes, even Keiichi. * That would indeed make for a great final battle. There's actually some fanart of Keiichi being summoned.* (Link please?) This theory is helped by the fact that if you exclude Rika, there are seven children in Higurashi: Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko, Hanyuu, and Satoshi. Alternatively, you could have Akasaka instead of Satoshi.* If you need to exclude someone, exclude Hanyuu instead of Satoshi, she's not even really here until the last chapter... But I don't see why Hanyuu would be a creator witch. IF she is a witch, we know that she is a voyager, like 34 or Bern. And in Lambda's diary, it is said that witches are a link between gods (hellooo hanyuu?) and humans, so I don't see the point about making Hanyuu a witch...

[[WMG:Every murder involving the Stakes of Purgatory can be explained by the stake(s) involved in the death.]]This one isn't actually isn't such a stretch considering what's been stated in the third arc, but if it's not right, it's bound to be {{Jossed}} pretty quickly. Anyway, if none of the murders are supernatural in origin, which we have to assume they aren't, since Battler also has to, then wouldn't the most straightforward way be to figure out which characters we know were involved and, where a stake was involved, what [[SevenDeadlySins sin]] that stake represents. In that way, a story may start to form. For instance, Kyrie defeated the sin of jealousy by out-jealousing it in the third arc. We know Rudolf has a tendency to cheat on his wives, so maybe she found out about an affair he was having and was tempted to kill him and almost did, but managed to keep herself out of it through devotion to him (which would be motivated by jealousy toward Asumu). Of course, this raises the question of what the bunny-girls would mean.* Guns. [[WMG: The game Beatrice plays with Battler is the same game that is played in {{HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi}} ]][[color:blue: Rika is Bernkastel's piece and Miyo is Lambdadelta's. The reason why Miyo was obssessed with [[spoiler:comfirming Hinamizawa Syndrome and the parasites and disproving gods]] was because in this game Lambda and Miyo were playing the role that Battler is playing now.]] [[WMG:Beatrice is love]][[AnthropomorphicPersonification In the most literal sense.]] Love is the cause of Kinzo's madness. Love is why Maria trusts Rosa unconditionally. Love is the impetus for the grisly murders. Love is the magic that can change the world. Love kills. Love can lift them up and transform them, but not until it's put them through hell.

And the name 'Beatrice', of course, is from the Divine Comedy: the universal symbol of unattainable love.* In the same way we could interpret all Beatrice's deaths as death of love in various persons. (First Kinzo, than Rosa and Battler. Well at least these two clearly went evil-mode after her death, and they both were looking for love in a way. We don't know about Battler yet though. I think it may be over-interpreting things little though. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?]] At least we know for sure that series main focus is love, so it's possible for it to have a symbolism like that. (Love is in the air~)** Didn't Beatrice die in [[spoiler:Rosa]]'s backstory too? Should she be included? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?*** She should be included, i just forgot about her.^^"

[[WMG:The chessboard symbolism is '''dead literal''']]There are 'not more than seventeen' people on the island. Sixteen is not more than seventeen. Sixteen pieces in a chess army. Eight of them nobles who influence, in some capacity, what horrible things are about to befall. Eight of them pawns, doomed to die in confusion and terror.

Which character fills which role is left as an exercise.* Eva's definitely one of the nobles. And if Beatrice is to be trusted, so is Battler.* Battler's the King. George and Shannon are the two Rooks, Jessica and Kanon are the two bishops. The parents are all pawns. The incident in Episode 3 can be explained as Eva getting promoted to Queen. To confuse things further, Maria and Genji are both on the opposite team; The "Sixteenth piece" for Battler's side is Ange, the Queen.* Weren't the only pieces to be revealed so far the White King (Battler, stated by Beatrice at the end of Ep. 4) and Black King (Maria, from the crown on her head)?** You forgot about Beato being a Black Queen.** Which piece each character corresponds to can vary between each game, for example Natsuhi was the Black King in episode 5 and that episode didn't have a White King. Also, Maria's crown is probably a red herring.* Gaap is a Knight, and Cornelia and Gertrude are both Rooks.

[[WMG:Battler's overlooking something completely obvious in the examination of the cases]]The witches have not defined in red what constitutes as a "person". This creates a loophole in which "furniture" can be left out of the statement [[color:red:"There are no more than 17 people on Rokkenjima."]] and thus making a huge gap in which 18th Person X can appear.* Hell, even if they define "person" in red, it wouldn't matter if red text only has to be true for one interpretation. And it matters even less if you can change interpretations on a statement-by-statement basis.* [[color:red:The statement, "6 people: Kinzo, Genji, Shannon, Kanon, Gohda, and Kumasawa are dead!", proves that furniture count as people. Furthermore, even if the definition of person can be changed, in order for Battler to argue that they aren't counted among the 17 he'd have to acknowledge that furniture are fundamentally different from people. Thus, severly weakening his argument.]]* [[color:blue:COUNTERPOINT! Shannon and Kannon are only able to become human through Love. Only in games where Kannon acknowledges feelings towards Jessica does he qualify as a Person. Ronoue does not feel love. Ronoue does not count as a Person.]][[color:red: Furniture ARE inherently different from people as stated in Episodes 1 through 4.]]** [[color:red:Ronoue counted as a person in episode 3.]][[color:purple: In order to count as people, furniture must ]][[color:grey:feel love.]][[color:purple: Therefore, in episode 3, Ronoue]][[color:grey: felt love.]][[color:red: Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: if you would claim that love makes furniture people you must present evidence that Ronoue loved someone.]]*** A [=WMG=] below suggests Kinzo. See "Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice".**** Effective. Furthermore, I will strengthen this theory further. [[color:red: Shannon and Kanon are not the only servents from the Fukuin house.]] Furthermore, [[color:blue:there is no evidence to suggest that the others aren't furniture as well. Therefore, even in an episode where Kanon, Shannon, and Genji all count as people, it is possible for the number of people to be misleading because the servents who we are told aren't on the island don't count as people and thus could be on the island without effecting the number.]]***** Furniture are human. It's just a metaphor taken to a literal extent in the Magical Perspective.****** Literal as in they get a super-awesome energy sword attached to their writing arms, or are able to form barriers to defend against magical attacks? In that case, take away the servitude thing and Kanon and Shannon are better off as furniture. Maybe they can become Jessica's and George's furniture, respectively.

[[WMG:The deaths are caused by 'Rokkenjima syndrome']]A mysterious disease that causes people to hallucinate they are being attacked by witches. And then explode.* Maybe seeing the golden butterflies is akin to hearing footsteps in Higurashi.* There are no more than 17 people on the island, but there are 40 scientists the next island over with typhoon-penetrating surface-to-surface missiles loaded with BERSERKER GAS!** Wait, wasn't there a disease thingy in Cowboy Bebop which causes people to see golden butterflies, hallucinate, and then die?** [[http://jbcs.info/Umineko/ep5.html#3EyRXGLI1x6S8OX17_wRYA Huh, What?]]

[[WMG:The murderer of the children in the first arc is [[TheKillerInMe Battler]].]]At the end, he is the only one with a weapon, aimed at the only confirmed victim of the four (Remember Maria's jawbone?), and is never confirmed to be dead. In addition, his repetition of the idea that he's going to live over and over again near the end echoes [[spoiler:Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen]] (Not that I can blame him for that sentiment, but...). He was driven nuts by the past murders and hallucinated Beatrice's appearance, at which point he shot Maria and perhaps Jessica and George (They might have helped him in the murder, if you want to alter it a little bit). After that, he pulled a [[spoiler:[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Natsumi]]]], chopped up all of the previous corpses, and scattered them all over the mansion. He then camped out in Kinzo's study, which was previously established as the only safe place in his mind, and everything that takes place in "Purgatorio" is actually just him hallucinating and inflicting mental punishment upon himself.* {{Jossed}} in Episode 5. [[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit. Battler-kun didn't kill anyone. This can be said of all games.]] This Red Truth was stated by Virgilia.** Now...when you say "Battler" are you referring to Meta-Battler, the guy with the red hair everyone is calling Battler, or some other Battler?*** Since I don't think meta-Battler has ever affected anything on the game board, I would assume they're referring to the red-haired guy on the board.*** Battler himself suggests that...but Dlanor A. Knox counters with one of her rules, [[color:red:"The detective cannot be the culprit!"]] Since Battler could be considered the detective for every arc up until 5 when Erika takes his place, he can't be the culprit for any of the "question" arcs.*** There is another person trying to unravel the story, [[color:red:and that person is not on the island and therefore not the culprit.]] [[color:blue:I propose that the audience is the true detective.]]**** But then there [[NoFourthWall wouldn't be a Fourth Wall!]]***** So? At least one character is aware of us.****** (5th poster here.) [[hottip:* :I mentioned [[NoFourthWall the lack of a Fourth Wall]].]] You don't understand. [[{{Yu-Gi-OhTheAbridgedSeries}} If there's]] NoFourthWall, [[{{Yu-Gi-OhTheAbridgedSeries}} things will become really bad around here.]]***** It's possible if the 'games' between Battler and Beatrice start during Episode 2. I think Battler himself mentions that things didn't really start between himself and Beatrice until Episode 2, therefore, it's possible that Episode 1 wasn't really a game, and Virgilia's Red Truth and Knox's 7th wouldn't apply.

[[WMG:Ange's bodyguard is actually Battler's EvilTwin]]Juuza looks suspicious just on appearance. He's a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy who has one of his eyes covered, has a name made of numbers [[spoiler:which worked oh so well for the BigBad in Higurashi]], and wears CreepyCoolCrosses, so first of all, he's setting off all of my scanners for "secretly evil." Okay, now to the theory: both Asumu and Kyrie were supposed to have had children around the same time, but Kyrie's was supposedly a stillbirth. Since the fourth arc, a lot of people have been working under the assumption that Battler was actually Kyrie's child, and perhaps Asumu was the one with the stillbirth. But what if Kyrie actually had a second child too, and for some reason gave him up as well? He shares a resemblance to her, what with the white hair. In addition, he looks to be about the same age Battler would be had he lived until 1998. Or perhaps he was actually Asumu's child (we've never seen what she looks like) and was raised in secret because of some sort of disability we don't know about yet? And she got Battler, who was still Kyrie's son, in his place. That might explain the "two Battlers" conundrum.

[[WMG:Ange's bodyguard is actually [[FutureBadass Battler]]]]And a homage to [[FateStayNight a certain other popular visual novel franchise]]. Points in favour: We never saw Battler's body after the events of ''Banquet of the Golden Witch'', both affect a 'crosses for no reason' aesthetic, both are very protective of Ange, and... it would be funny.--> "Gretel??"--> ''"Amakusa??"''* If Battler is Kyrie's son, it's even easier: he doesn't need to start dying his hair, but only to ''stop'' doing so.* Actually, she wears a cross on her tie too, unless I'm mistaking it for something else.* In that case, if I may play Devil's Advocate, we assume he survived. Why on earth hide from everyone?** Crazy aunt who shot him in the chest.*** Why does he continue to hide after the crazy aunt died? [[color:red:Eva Ushiromiya is most certainly already dead by 1998.]]**** In order to effectively change yourself into another person, you have to give up who you used to be. That, or he's too used to being Amakuza to go back.

[[WMG:Beatrice is the mother of at least one of the Ushiromiya siblings, and possibly all of them.]]I honestly did have several good arguments for this, but I came up with them at 3 in the morning and the only one I can remember is that it would explain their oddly Caucasian appearance. ([[CaucasianAsian Not that this is something that's usually explained at all in anime]].)* It would work particularly well with Krauss, considering that a) Kinzo had known Beatrice since before he married Battler's grandmother, so the eldest would be most likely in theory, and b) Both Krauss and Jessica have blond-ish to blond hair, unlike the other siblings and grandkids.

[[WMG:Beatrice is ''Jessica's'' mother]]Specfically, the Beatrice of Kuwadorian. Krauss and Natsuhi suffered a lot of political grief for being unable to conceive a heir. Suddenly, after 10 years, Natsuhi 'magically' produces a baby. Gosh. If only there were another woman of childbearing age on the island around that time period...* She died when Rosa was about 10, right? Natsuhi had Jessica 18 years ago. Is Rosa only 28 years old? That means she had Maria at 19, so it's possible, but still seems unlikely.** Actually, the death of that Beatrice was less then 19 years ago (as she was alive to talk with Kinzo 19 years ago). Rosa also stated that it happen 'about 20 years ago', therefore Rosa couldn't be much older then 30 anyway. Furthermore, one of the main reasons she was so bullied by her siblings was she is much younger, making that age more believable.*** According to the anime, Kuwadorian stopped taking deliveries in 1968--18 years before 1986. The boat captain guessed that's when Beatrice died.

[[WMG:Rena is another one of the servants at the Ushiromiya mansion.]]It's stated that there are two other servants who work at the mansion but don't have their shifts on the days when the Ushiromiya family gathers there - Manon and, here's the kicker, Renon. This kakera's version of Rena's parent issues went even worse, and for some reason, she was left at the Fukuin house. Eventually, she was allowed to serve at the Ushiromiya Mansion, and in adopting the "on" character, changed her name to "Renon." Note: This only works if she is just called "Rena" in this world and didn't have to switch from "Reina." Still has some minor problems with the difference between "Rena" (Higurashi name in katakana) and Ren'a (name the way it would have to be written with the "ren" character), unless there's an alternate reading that fits better.

[[WMG: Kanon is Shannon.]]During the second episode the finger of suspicion points overwhelmingly towards Kanon. Only problem: [[color:red:Kanon died in this room]]. On the other hand, Shannon could have easily strangled Kanon in Jessica's bedroom before the families arrived, and assumed both roles with the power of modern brassiere technology. Or Shkanon could be a different individual in each arc, even. Maybe they've been doing this swapping for a long time now. I'm haunted by the image of them waking up every morning and asking: "Who wants to be the maid today?"* But they've already done that for Higurashi ([=* coughShmioncough* =]); why would 07th Expansion pull the same trick ''again''? Now, don't get me wrong; I would find it ''very'' hot for Kanon to crossdress, but I doubt that the company's going to use the predictable route here. For all we know, Kanon could've been set up...or that Beatrice is ''[[CloningBlues hiding]]'' something from everyone...-shifty eyes-* There's another piece of evidence that tends to be offered for this one too, although for a related theory that the two were always the same person - think SplitPersonality, which is actually the inversion of Shmion - that Battler has never seen the two in the same room. Granted, the problem with this theory is getting around Kanon standing over Shannon's corpse. And it was stated by Hideyoshi that because Shannon's face was only partially gone, it was impossible to claim she was someone else.* The biggest effect of bumping off Kanon is that it gives [MYSTERY CHARACTER X] another loophole through which to slither onto the island.* It feels even more plausible because Shannon fits the stereotype of a character who would get a SplitPersonality really well. I was even thinking that could be what the shattering of the mirror was referring to.* Another counter to the Kanon is Shannon argument... Game 1: The identities of all bodies are guaranteed. Both Kanon and Shannon died, with bodies that did not vanish. Explanation? There's also a counter to the prospect of Shannon killing Kanon then taking his place: "They definitely would not mistake any different person for Kanon."** A case has been made lower that Shannon's corpse may not have been there in the first arc to begin with, since the only ones to see it were Hideyoshi and Kanon (who may be Shannon). If there's no corpse, there's no identity to guarantee.** Lambda's exact words were that "the identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed". Given how much witches love twisting words, that's almost good as an admission that one of the ''identified'' corpses -- Shannon and Krauss -- ''isn't'' guaranteed. 'Shannon', for instance, could have been Kanon with two pillows stuffed down his shirt. (Or more mundanely: the identity of the person(s) playing the Shannon and Kanon roles varies from game to game.)** Lambdadelta also said: [[color:red:The only one who can claim Kanon's name is the person himself! A different person cannot claim his name!]], so it can only be Kanon disguising, not the other way around. It might be countered if that is allowed when the person disguised as Kanon never tries to say he or she is Kanon.*** Shannon would be the "real" person by seniority, since Battler knew her from 6 years ago but not Kanon. If she calls herself Kanon, it's not "someone else claiming his name".** [=EP6=] lends a ''lot'' of strength to this theory, and actually expands on it: Shannon is Kanon is ''also Beatrice''.*** During Zepar and Furfur's Trial of Love, they explicitly say that the reason that only one of the three couples can be happy together, because Kanon, Shannon, and the resurrected Beatrice have 'incomplete souls', and that two of them must die to 'complete' the third. As two of them fade away, we see a flashback to Battler describing his ideal woman--a description that fits Beatrice to a T.**** Each one of the three is made to be the object of attraction of one of the siblings. Shannon is for satisfying George, Kanon for Jessica, and Beatrice for Battler. Maria hasn't hit puberty yet, but it's obvious she has a close relationship with Beatrice, so it still sort of works.*** Kanon's escaping one closed room to rescue meta-Battler from another: the simplest theory that explains it is that Kanon was NEVER in the sealed room--"he" was Shannon, in the other room, and Erika's own insistence on guaranteeing "Everyone else is in this room" came back to bite her bigtime.*** "Sorry, but - " "[[color:red:Even if you join us - ]]" "[[color:red:There are 17 people.]]"*** My only problem is this "[[color:red:"I am Furudo Erika, the detective!! I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!!"]]. She was able to say it in red even though it was a lie -- whereas when Battler tried to declare in red that he's Asumu's son, he was stopped in his tracks while trying to mutter it. **** People = alive, human = just a body. If you execute Erika in the TIPS it says she washed up on shore dead in the first place. This "definition of people" was already specified with the Kinzo shenanigans, right? Although in that case, she's really the 19th human. Oh well.**** That's easy. You simply miscalculated. 16 people (that is, everyone that is alive) + 1 = 17 people. 17 humans (that is, everyone alive plus Kinzo) + 1 = 18 humans. [[color:blue: Erika thought that there were 17 people on the island without her, and stated that she was the 18th human, which was true. Then, when Battler and Beatrice stated that even with her on the island there were only 17 people, she couldn't find a way to justify her existence and disappeared in a PuffOfLogic.]] That way, she was Retconned into never actually arriving to the island alive, and just being a body. This is the [[color:blue:only]] way that the 6th game can be solved.** Shannon certainly seems to have the right body type to be the "Beatrice" seen in Episodes 2 (where the only people who have a long conversation with her are Kanon and Shannon) and Episode 4 (where Kanon's body vanished and Shannon's (I think) wasn't found until after Beatrice talked to Battler). Unless she usually pads her bra, though, it's hard to imagine her disguising herself as Kanon and still being able to breathe.** The "sin of six years ago" could be Battler's abandoning Shannon.* One major problem with this theory is in [=EP5=]. During TheSummation, Erika gathers all the survivors in one room to explain whodunnit, and I'm pretty certain both Kanon and Shannon were showed as present. The only excuses I can think of are:** Despite being The Detective, Erika's still an UnreliableNarrator, what with all the getting into arguments with ghosts and yelling about Bernkastel-sama at the dinner table and whatnot.** Lambdadelta was screwing around, and somehow made them separate characters for this one game.** IIRC, an easy explanation to that is that, while Shannon and Kanon were shown together while Erika was the detective, they were never shown APART. This is the equal, but opposite, way that Erika and Battler will only see one person (as Detective) and that person is the original...'Sayo'. Yes...that would mean that Jessica is lesbian and Sayo created the Kanon persona because she was feeling sorry for her. The reason why Kanon kept denying his feelings for Jessica is because Sayo didn't want to admit that she was starting to become attracted to another woman.

[[WMG: Orphans. Pfft.]]The servant staff are orphans taken in by Kinzo out of the kindness of his bleeding heart? Don't make me laugh. They're bastard Ushiromiya spawn. George is proposing to his cousin, or maybe his aunt. No wonder Eva is pissed.* Rudolf could have laid in the younger generation of furniture singlehandedly.* [[spoiler:Disturbingly enough, it's looking like this is right.]]

[[WMG: Happy halloween for Maria!]]Because she had every reason to be happy. The murder scene in the chapel wasn't a blasphemous parody of a celebration. It wasn't a parody at all! It was meant to be a real celebration! A big damn halloween party with drinks and candies and decorations, presided over by the smiling Witch of Rokkenjima. All to cheer up a heartbroken nine year old girl. How great would that have been, seriously? * This goes a long way to explaining Rosa's witch encounter in the rose garden. Beatrice (really Sayo in a funny wig, but Maria isn't going to notice) gives the two of them envelopes -- Rosa's (containing an invitation the party) 'to open at the family conference' and Maria's (containing the chapel key) 'to open at the right time'. Too bad Rosa just plain forgot about hers until past Maria's bedtime. It also explains why Beatrice affected a jacket-and-tie look for that episode: lavish Western-style dresses are hard to come by at short notice in the Izu Archipelago.* Turn the chessboard around. Think of the the poor killer who lugged six heavy corpses across the island in darkness and the pouring rain, soaked to the skin, shivering and exhausted, and then turned on the lights and said... "The '''fuck?'''"

[[WMG: Sometimes I think it was my twin that drowned; sometimes I think it was me]]Rosa met a living Beatrice when she was a child. One died. One lived. Rosa's body broke on the rocks. Beatrice escaped out into the endless world. They were most likely half-sisters; it's not inconceivable that one estranged sibling could pass for another. Maria, if only you knew how near Beatrice is to you even now... ...Now I'm just becoming paranoid. Unless that's what they want me to think?* You are not taking the age gap into account. Rosa was a little girl, while Beatrice was well into her teen years.** I think Beatrice's sprite was misleading in that scene. Rosa narrated that she assumed she and Beatrice were the same age, and only later realised Beatrice was 'older than she looked'. And of course the older they get, the less an age gap matters[[hottip:* :Well. I don't entirely think it's true, but on the scales of 'Awesomeness' and 'Improbableness' it scores easy 10s]].

[[WMG: Beatrice is the only compassionate person in the story]]Everybody on Rokkenjima dies. That's the brute facts of the matter, independant of anybody's interpretation. Beatrice isn't their killer. Beatrice is their ''redeemer''. She is the one who lifts up the brute facts and ennobles them with stories of star-crossed love and selfless courage and desperate heroism. She is the ultimately healthy and ''humane'' response the agony of the house of Ushiromyia. She is heartless and vain and utterly cruel, because only an utterly cruel witch could 'answer' their suffering.

Rejecting fantasy is like ripping off a bandaid quickly. Rejecting fantasy means prebreaking your heart.* This, of course, is how she intends to break Battler. Also, Reality Bites.

[[WMG: Endgame]]Battler is right not to submit to Beatrice, not because it represents a cosmic defeat for the forces of Reason (that's just his ego talking), but because it would be a diminishment of both parties -- abandonment of the potential for a more ordered cosmos where witches and detectives make love, not war. Their true victory condition is a marriage, a truth both Battler-ian and Beatrice-ian, to parallel and complete the thwarted marriage of Kinzo and Beatrice half a century ago. Their true enemy is Lambdadelta, who wants to grind their 'truths' against one another until there's no truth left at all; a witch who sees 'reason' and 'magic' only as components of a moral trap to imprison Bernkastel (and the player) forever.* You're right!! You're freaking spot-on! This is ''exactly'' the way the conflict in ''Chiru'' is playing out (except Lambda and Bern are actually conspiring against the players, not each other).* Actually, in [=EP6=], Lambdadelta seems to be TrueNeutral in this, both conspiring with Bernkastel and occasionally helping Battler and Beatrice. ''Bernkastel'' is the villain, who just wants to destroy the game utterly and move on. You are right about the marriage, though...

[[WMG: Sakutaro mauled everyone to death]]He is not a ''tame'' lion.* I don't understand. Can you explain, please?** It's a ShoutOut to TheChroniclesOfNarnia. (See also "Sakutaro is coming back", below.)* Listen to Sakutaro's theme. Listen to Happiness of Marionette (EVA's theme). Compare, consider, recoil in horror.

[[WMG: The killer and the staker are strictly different people]]Many of the household have reason to kill, but very few have reason to act out an abnormal occult ritual. Plus, trying to hit people in melee with a stake or jury-rigged stake-launching-apparatus sounds more like a recipe for black comedy.--> Kthunk! ''AIEEE!''--> (Oh, bother. I meant to stake Rudolf in the thigh and hit him in the bollocks instead. Was there anything in the epitaph about "gouge the testicle and kill"?)Also, the connection between the deaths and the epitaph is sometime very, very strained. 'Tear apart the two who are close' in ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' amounts to Jessica turning up with a stake in her back, and a whole lotta creative interpretation. For all we know she died of asthma.

Very few of the stakings could kill a person, anyway. They're all done postmortem. Who could the staker be? The adults all die and stakings continue. The servants all die and stakings continue. Jessica dies, George dies, Maria dies... but nothing can stop the stakings! It's just barely conceivable that Nanjo could have staked everybody singlehandedly -- even though that requires staking ''himself'' in ''Turn of the Golden Witch''. It absolutely staggers credulity that Battler could be doing it. If any bit of the story demands for a supernatural explanation, it's the horrifying consistency of the stakings.* If there's a stranger on the island, this could easily be their role. Not killing anybody, not even speaking to anybody -- just running about striking stakes into dead guys, painting magic glyphs and writing letters, like some demented stagehand to the grisly Rokkenjima theatre.** Doesn't have to be a stranger. Could be Maria. If she thought Beatrice wanted her to, she'd do it, and she has the requisite knowledge.

[[WMG: The witch's challenge has nothing to do with murder]]It's a scam. By Kyrie. To squeeze money out of Krauss. A faked letter here, a blithe comment of having seen a 'strange blonde woman' there, and the poor paranoid git is putty in her hands. What in the world could possibly be simpler?* Alternately, it could be a scam by ''Krauss''. Allow me to explain:** In [=EP5=], we find out that Krauss' financial straits are just as desperate as the other siblings, if not worse--in addition to being ruined, he's in danger of of destroying the family fortune and possibly jail time.** Unlike the others, he has proof that Kinzo's gold really does exist.** After Kinzo's death, he almost certainly got Kinzo's signet ring, for use sealing those letters.** He's tried and failed to solve the riddle himself, but if he can trick his siblings into helping...?** Pride (and simple self-preservation) keep Krauss from coming clean to his family about the predicament he's in, so he's following Kinzo's example - betting everything on an unlikely outcome and hoping for a miracle. Losing the family headship would be a terrible blow, but nowhere nearly as bad as what's going to happen if he doesn't try.*** In [=EP3=] and 5, this scheme actually worked. In the others...not so much.

[[WMG: The witch's challenge isn't a scam, or a trick, or any such thing]]It's a letter, from Beatrice, exactly as it claims. Because Kumasawa is Beatrice, Kinzo's much-speculated secret lover. It's laying claim to all Kinzo's wealth. Because Kinzo willed all his wealth not to his hated children, but to his one true love. What in the world could possibly be simpler?* ''At no point does the author of the letter claim to be a witch''. The letter writer describes her role as an 'alchemy counselor' and signs as 'Beatrice the Golden', whereas the murder letter is signed 'The Golden Witch, Beatrice'. Unlike the villain(s), Kumasawa has no reason to pretend to being a witch -- everyone knows those don't exist!

[[WMG: Somebody is manipulating the 'Beatrice mythos' in order to cause murders]]* In the first episode, the Golden Land is a generically nonspecific happy place the victims go to when they die.* In the second episode, suddenly the rule is that thirteen people will die, and the five survivors with pass bodily into the golden land without dying: the golden land is now a land of infinite regality. Conveniently enough, this is told to Shannon, who is in love with her employer. Bribing someone with their heart's desire has to be a pretty good inducement to murder.* In the third episode, Beatrice declares -- completely out of the blue -- that the person who solves the epitaph will become house head. Funny she never thought to mention ''that'' before. But a life's wish to Eva. The kind of wish worth going to any length for. Somebody knows the psychological weaknesses of the House of Ushiromiya, and they're gonna kill all of them without having to lift a finger.

[[WMG: Rosa's little turns...]]...aren't her fault. She just couldn't say no to that all expenses paid bed-and-breakfast holiday in the picturesque town of Hinamizawa. So sorry...* Or it's Lambdadelta.

[[WMG: The Golden Village is Hell]]Think about it. What color is fire? What has to be done for the revival of the Golden Witch? Horrific ritual sacrifices, that's what. And if the murderer/s is/are indeed a human on the island, you can guess where they'll be going after death, considering quite a bit of the imagery in the games. Sure, it seems like a great place, but has anyone ever stated in red text what it truly is?* Well, that and the fact everyone who lives to Beatrice's revival is described as being sent to Hell afterwards.

[[WMG: The next chapter is going to be 'Turn of the Battler']]Where Battler uses his meta-capacity to reconstruct the murders in an uber-clinical {{CSI}} fashion, and Beatrice has her turn to express moral outrage. "How could you be heartless? Your own mother... how could you suspect your own mother like that, Battler? You're a monster! A monster!"

[[WMG: Gaap is actually Shannon]]Working off the theories that some have come up with about Ronove being Genji and Virgilia being Kumasawa. Both are Beatrice's furniture, and both are also Kinzo's servants. So all of a sudden, we have this new, scantily clad furniture named Gaap with no real hint as to her origin, unlike Ronove sharing Genji's last name and Kumasawa actually turning into Virgilia. So what are we to do? Well, there are four servants left, if we assume that all furniture is actually a servant - Gohda, Shannon, Kanon, and Nanjo (being liberal and including him here, though he's not really a servant). Gohda's the easiest one to rule out - unlike all other servants except Nanjo, he is not allowed to wear the symbol of both the Ushiromiya family and Beatrice, the one-winged eagle. As such, it's unlikely he could be represented as Beatrice's furniture. Nanjo is an iffy one to add as a servant period - he's closer to a friend of Kinzo - and I fail to see the logic in representing him with a scantily clad female piece of furniture, as it would need to be pulled off ridiculously well in order not to send the audience into fits of laughter. That leaves Shannon and Kanon, who many already think may be one character. If so, then we've already ruled it down to one suspect. I marked him/her down as "Shannon" because she's more likely to be the main one - she's been at the mansion longer.* There are a lot of things that support this. Gaap's outfit, between the large breasts and the slit (like the slit in Shannon's skirt), the fact that she takes George's test and it takes place in the arbor of all places, which is where he would have proposed to her...the fact that a ''lot'' of the dialogue between the two at the beginning of the test would seem to imply Shannon lied about being in love with him, and George is determined to show her the determination of his love...I think there's still more to support it as well, but I'm drawing a blank.

[[WMG: Genji is a Genie]]The names are only a few letters off,and in a strange way it would make sense. The roulette? His three wishes.

[[WMG: Beatrice is not the true antagonist.]](Note that this troper hasn't gotten far in the game and may be wrong in this theory...)True, Beatrice did eat Battler at the end of the 1st game and is always attacking everyone with her stakes, but the way she treats Maria just doesn't fit with her 'evil nature'. I mean, she's a ''witch'' for the love of god! She's supposed to murder, drive people insane, etc, not take care of one of the children. Also, take note of her and Battler's [[GoKartingWithBowser relation]][[WorthyOpponent ship]]. So it's either there's [[TheManBehindTheMan someone pulling the strings from behind]] that even ''she'' doesn't know about or it's a case of EvenEvilHasStandards.* The ??? Tea Party of episode 3 confirms that Lamdbadelta is TheManBehindTheMan and Episode 4's ??? Tea Party seems to be setting 34 and Bern up as antagonists of an entirely different level from Beatrice.

[[WMG: The series is a stealth sequel to ''HitherbyDragons'']]Beato and the Mariage Sorcerie are gods created by Maria, in the same way that Eva-Beatrice is a god born to answer Eva's suffering. Battler ascended as a Hero during the tea party at the end of ''Legend of the Golden Witch'': hence his growing supernatural power and inability to affect real events (the blood of the People of Salt is strong Kinzo's family). And the Monster...

...[[MonsterAGoGo there is no monster]]. There's just folks, trying to get by.

[[WMG: You want to hear a story?]]I only know one story, truthfully. It's a sad story and I'm not sure it would be right for you to hear it.

You insist? The story is about a girl called Ms. Beatrice-- Oh! Yes, the name should sound familiar to you, though this Ms. Beatrice is not a witch... or at least, not yet, and not in the important ways. Beatrice wasn't even her real name. It was a name she chose for herself, because all the famous alchemists had pretend names for themselves, and an alchemist -- a person who makes miracles real -- was exactly what she longed to be. She was a very foolish and young girl. But one day she met a Mr. Goldsmith. Oh! He was young, then, and beautiful, and he thought the world belonged to him. Every girl only had to look at him to fall in love -- you'll understand, too, when you're a little older. And Ms. Beatrice and Mr. Goldsmith both wanted to see a miracle, and they didn't believe that anything was impossible, and they were in love. And they made it happen. They made a true miracle. They studied secrets others scoffed at, and they learned things that had never before been learned, and they transmuted ten tons of lead into pure gold before their eyes.

Mr. Goldsmith was delighted! Now he could redeem the honour of his family, which other had laughed at, and he could live as he pleased and do as he liked. And Ms. Beatrice was delighted because she had exceeded all the famous alchemists of the past. So they made a contract. A foolish contract: that Mr. Goldsmith would have all the gold to redeem his family, and when he died everything that he made with the gold would pass to Ms. Beatrice. And they laughed as they signed it, because they were young and beautiful and thought the world was endless.

But even though they loved one another, Mr. Goldsmith married another woman. He said it was necessary somehow for his family. And Ms. Beatrice had to pretend not to be a lover or an alchemist but just an ordinary person. But they still laughed about their joke in secret. Then one day Ms. Beatrice bore a child... a child who Mr. Goldsmith said would shame the family name, and had to live in a secret house nobody knew of, like a bird a in a cage. And they laughed a bit less after that. And one day -- oh, sorry, my dear, it's nothing, just a speck in my eye -- but one day, the poor child escaped from her cage and dived from a cliff and broke her body on the rocks. Nobody knows why she did... you can't ever know another person. Not really. After that they stopped talking very much to one another. And Ms. Beatrice actually came to secretly resent Mr. Goldsmith a little, because she was old now, and she would never be able to enjoy the gold the way she could if she were young. And Mr. Goldsmith came to secretly fear Ms. Beatrice a little, because he thought she was doing nothing but wait for him to die. It was a funny situation, but neither of them were laughing any more.

Oh...\\That's it. That's the end of the story.\\I told you it was a sad story.\\I don't think you should be telling this story to anybody else. It's just a silly, sad story, right?\\Look, Maria, there's your cousins coming back from the beach. Go and play with them for a while. I've been sitting for too long and ''-ohhhhhhhhhh-'' my knees aren't what they used to be. I'll play with you again the next time you visit, ok?

[[WMG: Umineko is not fantasy or mystery, it's science fiction]]Think about it. Alchemy laid the foundations for chemistry. The witches refer to Schroedinger's Cat and Menger's sponge. The [[spoiler: Siesta sisters have an OS that needs rebooting and shoot laser arrows.]] Beatrice herself says that [[spoiler: Kinzo created a homunculus to trap her.]] The servants consider themselves not human, but furniture - what if [[spoiler: they're actually clones or cyborgs?]] That last would explain Shannon and Kanon in Episode 4. It would allow not only a logical solution to the murders, but also the fantastic elements in the game. After all, time travel and alternate dimensions are all perfectly within the rules of SF...* That explains the so-called witches, sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic.** [[color:red:Knox's 4th. It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard to understand scientific devices to be used.]]*** [[color:blue:It has not yet been stated whether the story conforms to Knox's Decalogue. I propose that it doesn't... And also that Beatrice is Maria from the future!]] Small Bombs for Everyone! Yaaayyyy!!!** [[color:blue:Time travel, cloning, alternate dimensions, androids, and such are not difficult to understand in a way that affects the plot. Furthermore, the rule only affects unknown drugs or hard-to-understand devices that require a complicated explanation at the end of the story. If the rules of the devices are spelled out as the story goes or all required explanations are simple, the rule does not prevent science fiction elements.]]** From EP 5: "[[color:red:I will REPEAT. By the name of god, I will not let such a drug or machine EXIST. I will not allow them to exist ''for all ETERNITY''.]]" If Umineko is a tale that can be solved by using all the clues of the games, then such devices would render would render the whole tale mostly pointless. After all, if you have managed to solve a mystery without anybody telling you the answer, wouldn't you be pissed if the REAL answer was an AssPull? That said, the different "kakeras" in the Meta-World may count as alternate dimensions, but only in a meta-sense; they can't help in solving the riddle.* While I admit I'm certainly no fan of Umineko, stopped watching the anime around episode 25 or so, and thus haven't been through everything as thoroughly as the majority of those debating here have, but I must still make the following points the above discussion seems to have forgotten:# On the subject of Knox's Rules, we must remember that they are merely suggestions meant to advance the quality of detective literature, not universal laws that have mathematical proofs to back them up. They should be considered more like the general consensus around Mary Sues or Self Insert fanfics. Most of such things are rubbish, but some are quite good. Heck, Dante's Divine Comedy is a self insert fanfic of the Bible and is a respected classic all the same. So while Knox's Rules probably shouldn't (and in Umineko, probably won't) be broken, they still can be without the universe imploding.# The 4th of Knox's Rules is probably one that has not withstood the test of time very well and thus its literal meaning seems to say things it doesn't. I personally would rewrite it if I could, but whatever. The general point that rule is trying to make is that the author shouldn't brag about how much he knows about chemistry or Rube Goldberg contraptions. Some random poison that comes from left field is a no-no, some random obscure scientific rule or process that the author either made up or somehow knows because he's a nerd is also a no-no. The latter is the point of debate here, and to bring it into context let's just say we have a murder mystery where the victim is found burning away in his favorite chair or something. Following Knox's 4th, random chemical reactions are a no-no, spontaneous human combustion is a no-no, and so on. If the victim burnt to death, there has to be a match or flame or flamethrower that set him on fire. Note the flamethrower is fine. Yes, a flamethrower can be used as a murder weapon, you just have to justify its existence to begin with. Higher forms of technology is fine, they just have to fit the setting and be shown to the reader so that they count as evidence.# "Magic" and "science" are difficult to distinguish after magic has been explained. One might think of magnetism as magic if you aren't introduced to the principles behind it early enough. Say a wizard explained everything about how to make fireball, right up to what physical law allows for it; you'd probably still think of it as magic, simply because it's too out there for your brain to place into the "science" file folder. In fiction, this becomes a problem. As a result, "fantasy" and "science fiction" are separate by this maxim: "Fantasy is where the impossible is possible and science fiction is where the improbable is probable." Put that in red if you want, I'm to lazy to. The vast majority of things in Umineko are quite impossible. It's fantasy, straight up, but that's not always a bad thing. Science fiction isn't "intelligent" fantasy and fantasy isn't "ignorant" or "unexplained" science fiction. They're two separate genres, not [[{{Pokemon}} evolutionary forms]] of the same thing. Just because the Witches here are well versed in quantum mechanics doesn't mean that their magic doesn't violate the laws of nature. Lot's of scientific laws are true in fantasy works, but it's the ones that are clearly violated that make it a fantasy proper. Science fiction (well, good science fiction) rarely violates real world laws, otherwise they may as well be casting a spell to teleport their spaceship.# Magic itself violates Knox's 2nd. Straight up. However, giving all of what appeared to be supernatural events explanations (such as the servants being robots) would legitimately violate Rule 4. Where did this miraculous technology come from? How did that crazy old man I forget the name of acquire that technology and keep it from both the world and the reader? Why are they calling it magic to begin with instead of just saying its high tech? It's all too elaborate a conspiracy. Heck, you probably shouldn't even trust your eyes all the time. Remember, everything after the first round of murders is constructed. Logically, it isn't a game meant to give a fair chance to both sides, just some stupid false reality that is presented to Battler as somehow being legitimate and one that follows any kind of ruleset. Unless one of the Witches says in red "I'm not playing this game with loaded dice," we have to logically assume that they are and thus trying to get Battler to submit to them (or whatever they want, idk, I couldn't follow anyone's motives at all). The only murder mystery that we can say is actually worth solving at all is the first one, not the endless game Battler and Beatrice play. As a result, we should be looking for clues to that one, truths that are found in a sea of lies. Everything else is freshly prepared RedHerring. ** The original version of Knox's 2nd does indeed forbid the use of any magic. However, the Umineko version of Knox's 2nd only prevents it from being used as a detective techniqueTo save someone from yelling at me because it might sound like I'm saying Umineko is of low quality, think of it like this: there is a troupe of actors who preform a play based on how the troupe first met and got into acting. However, no two performances of the play are the same, with variations here and there. One of the actors, Battler, has begun to become confused as to how the group legitimately first met, since all of the preformances being based around that has confused him. So off he goes to the director's girlfriend, Beatrice, to sort things out. She tells him that all of the events that he remembers, even ones that contradict reason, are true. Battler insists that only one can be true and that one must be the most logical. On it goes. In a sense, it is much like this. We have to assume that the first presentation of the events was the real one. Everything after that is false, unless revealed to be otherwise. Now I'm definately not saying that this is the literal explaination, but it is generally like that in the sense of the whole "the first mystery is the one you should be focusing on, dummköpfe" thing.

[[WMG:Beatrice (as in the Beatrice who supposedly gave Kinzo the gold) never existed]]It's a popular EpilepticTree of the ''DivineComedy'' that Dante's Beatrice never existed: a female muse and a fashionably tragic love life were almost required for a poet at the time, and so Dante Alighieri invented Beatrice from whole cloth to give himself something to emote about. Is Kinzo enough of a moody Europhile git to try the same thing? Maybe! There's something very ironic about killing in the name of a woman that never lived.* All of you who thought: 'That can't be true! The Divine Comedy is too beautiful for Beatrice not to be real!' You're all officially anti-Mystery. :)* Then how did Kinzo get the gold? How do you explain his relationship with the Beatrice in Kuwadorian?

[[WMG:Shannon died, or almost died, six years ago]]She does say that she's been, briefly, to the Golden Land. From an anti-fantasy perspective, the Golden Land is death.* When does she say this, again?

[[WMG:Jessica is Beatrice]]I have been kicking around the theory that Beatrice is in fact a hidden personality of Jessica, born from her own frustration at her position, Kinzo's madness, and perhaps Battler's percieved abandonment of her. I'm going to try and put my complete theory down in this thread, as I've only posted bits and pieces of it in various threads.

First of all. This theory assumes the information from Episode 3 concerning Beatrice is correct. Kinzo met her years before, and after borrowing the gold, fell in love with her. Kinzo, undeterred when she rejected him, simply took her by force, building a hidden mansion on the island he bought and imprisoning her there. Unable to escape, she eventually commited suicide.

However, she had a child, or Kinzo found an infant that bore a high enough resemblance, and this child was kept on in the hidden mansion for her entire life, looked after by Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo checking up on occasion. Years later, Rosa stumbles across the hidden mansion, and meets Beatrice #2 who has been desiring to leave and see the outside world. She leads that Beatrice out, only for her to fall from a cliff and die on the rocks below.

Again, she may have been pregnant, or another child was acquired. The timing here is important. Battler and Jessica were both born in 1967 roughly, since they are both 18 in 1985. In '67 Krauss and Natsuhi had been trying to conceive unsuccessfully for more than a decade. Since Kuwadorian wasnt used after Beatrice #2 died accidentally, Kinzo must have wanted to keep the newly born Beatrice someplace she could be kept under observation and not so isolated. So, he gave the child to Krauss and Natsuhi, sternly ordering them to look after her as their own. He may have even told them not to worry about proper succession, as she carried his blood. This might be why Krauss and Natsuhi are somewhat distant from their daughter.

Battler is born at roughly the same time, Rudolph's son, though not to Asumu. Asumu probably miscarried instead of Kyrie, and the Ushiromiyas forced Kyrie to turn over her child to Rudolph and Asumu. The miscarried child was going to also be named Battler, that name got passed on to Kyrie's firstborn (this is also why Battler and Ange look so alike). It has also been theorized that Jessica is actually Rudolph and Asumu's daughter, and was given over to Krauss for some reason. Then Battler was taken from Kyrie, and she may have been led to believe her child died.

As time passes, Kinzo's mind slips further into madness. Jessica is raised normally, though as she gets older Kinzo begins paying more and more attention to her, convinced she is yet another Beatrice. When Jessica and Battler are about 12, Battler says something to Jessica that leaves a deep impression on her, even if he thought little of it. He might have bragged that he'd come charging to the rescue if she were ever in trouble, or he'd help her escape from her oppressive family, something along those lines.

Shortly after, Asumu dies. Rudolph remarries quickly, to Kyrie, who is pregnant with Ange. Battler can't accept this turn of events, and leaves the family to live with Asumu's parents.

Kinzo's madness worsens. Jessica feels like Battler abandoned her. Kinzo starts visiting Jessica more often, telling her about the previous Beatrices, and revealing many of his secrets to her. At some point, Kinzo makes a move on Jessica. Given Kinzo's personality, he's not likely to ask. Also recall what Beatrice said about Kinzo's interests... This may have happened more than once. At some point, Jessica's mind, unable to accept what was happening to her and despairing over Battler, who never came, broke down and a new persona was formed, taking the name of Beatrice.

Sometime before the family conference in 1985, Kinzo dies. Jessica may have killed him, perhaps trying to resist him. Krauss might have done it as well if he found out what was going on with all of Jessica's visits to his room (remember, like Rudolph told Kyrie once, even though he brags and blusters, Krauss can become the most reliable of the siblings when the chips are down. If he found out Kinzo was raping his daughter, I don't think Kinzo would be around much longer.). Either way, it was neccessary to conceal Kinzo's death, in order to protect his family and also prevent the distribution of the inheritance. In all likelyhood, all of the negative memories and emotions Jessica had experienced got shoved onto Beatrice and locked away.

A few more years pass. Beatrice spends most of the time dormant, though she does come forward to speak to Shannon, sadistically urging her forward deeper into a relationship with George,which she thinks is bound to fail. She even tells Kanon as much when he catches her before she regresses after one of her meetings with Shannon. Which makes the relationship Jessica wants to make with him rather... awkward, since he's afraid this is another cruel joke of Beato's. George and Shannon's relationship seems to be poised to succeed despite all odds, much to Jessica and Beato's envy.

Then word comes to Rokkenjima: Battler is coming back into the family. Beatrice awakens, and begins forming a plan to take revenge on Battler for forgetting his promise to her.

Jessica is in the perfect position to set the ball rolling. From her father, she know that all the siblings are in a precarious position financially. The tensions regarding the succession of the headship are getting high, especially with the rumor being spread among the siblings that whoever solves Kinzo's riddle will become the next head. Confirming this is enough to get people all hot and bothered.

Now throw in some wild cards. Through Kinzo, Jessica knows where the gold is. She knows the servants, probably better than her parents. She knows where Kinzo keeps Beatrice's old clothes. She knows about the emergency funds Kinzo set up, and where he kept all the keys. She can get out from her parents supervision for days at a time under the pretense of bad weather. She knows the ins and outs of both mansions. And don't forget, she knows Maria will believe just about anything if you say you are a witch.

From here, events depend upon the exact conditions of the game. She might carry out some of the killings herself, or it might not even be neccessary. She could be the person putting the magic circles and whatnot around the house, since she and Nanjo are the likliest to know how to make proper symbols (and she knows Maria can read them).

In the case of Episode 2, after she or her accomplice killed all the parents but Rosa, Kanon may have confronted her while she was alone with him. He stabbed her, she retaliated, and wound up killing him. She moved the body out of her room and hid it someplace, then locked herself back into her room, and later died.

Though, could she have been faking? I remember Beato saying Kanon was dead with the red, but was Jessica's death confirmed in the way? I don't recall as much, but if she knew where Kanon's body was, she could have dressed in his bloody clothes and a wig to fool the servants, however briefly, while she waited for a chance to attack them.

Not much red was used in Ep4, and none regarding Jessica really. She could have worn Beatrice's clothes and greeted Battler from the balcony. Despite Battler's surity that it was 'Beatrice', his outlook was warped after the converation with Kyrie. Plus, I dont know if it was a translation error or not: she was described as coming out of the second floor balcony. But Kinzo's room is on the THIRD floor, right? Jessica's is on the second flood if I recall correctly though... Either way, Battler was looking up at her from 10-20 feet or so, in the dark, while it was raining hard. I'm not going to begrudge him for fooling himself into believing it.

So anyway, that is my theory. There are holes in it, and plenty of things are still not explained. I'm not even touching who the 'Kinzo' that appeared in Ep4 was. But it covers alot pretty well I think.* That is horrible and gothic and nasty and I love it and find it painfully plausible.* In episode 3 at least, it's stated in red that "[[color:red:Ushiromiya Jessica has not committed murder.]]"* But would Beatrice count anything done by 'Beatrice' as something ''Jessica'' did, or not? No wonder she's confused...* I love this theory. I'm trying to figure out a way to update it through five, what with Jessica being one of the first murders there. In that one, Battler found the gold and became the new head, so... is it possible that perhaps in a fit over how a wrench had been thrown into all of her plans, Jessitrice (Beatrice as Jessica's split personality, as opposed to Beato and past Beatrices) decides to try to frame Battler? I'm not sure if it's stated in red that the murders took place in the cousins' room or whether the corpses were moved there later, but... let's posit for a moment that most of the murders occurred somewhere else and Jessitrice was in the process of moving them up into their room while Battler was sleeping. Then, maybe Rosa comes in to check on Maria and sees what happened. Jessitrice flips and kills her, and then, in a panic, commits suicide. Kumasawa and... I forget which is the other servant to die. Genji, I think? Anyway, Jessitrice hadn't finished moving them up yet by the time she killed herself, so they're somewhere else. That doesn't clear up why Hideyoshi dies later or why Battler didn't wake up with the noise that would have probably occurred during Rosa popping in, but, well, it's a start. Please correct me - I'm certain I'm missing some facts on this.* I also suspect Jessica to be Beatrice, mainly due to the scorpion charm she gave to Natsuhi, and she knowing about George's death in Episode 4 and all. Also the talk about another self in Episode 2. You have put quite a back story there for this. The things I'm unsure of are that who Battler's sin involves, as in Episode 4 Beatrice said the sin isn't between Battler and Beatrice. If Jessica's split personality counts to this, I'd suspect it would be Shannon (and Kanon if they indeed are the same person). As the mystery should be able to be solved with the Question arcs, the only reason I could think for this would be Battler's Engrish speeches, and he said he had some kind of crush on Shannon. The sentence of Battler's sin not being between Battler and Beatrice could also be explained with the split personality forming only after Battler committed the sin, but that seems kinda pushing it. But clearly she's having a grudge about it. But it is so bad she's prepared to kill herself for it.* It could be that this is somewhere else on this hefty WMG list, but I think this theory meshes rather well with the Shkanon theory. I like to think that if Jessica and Beatrice being the same is due to her being broken, it's entirely possible that Shannon knew this, and Kanon spawned out of pity for this situation. It would also explain why Shannon and Kanon take orders from Beatrice. She's someone he/she/they/whoever would know, and is also one of the Ushiromiya family. At the same time, it would explain those friendly visits Shannon has with Beatrice. Either we go the superstition route, or Shannon knows it's Jessica and they're already close anyways. Just throwing that one out with no idea how relevant/irrelevant it is. Pretty much just started trying to make any manner of theories after [=EP6=] to cope with the wait for the next Episode and am running off pure recollection. So feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

[[WMG:Maria kills Rosa in more arcs than just the 4th, particularly the 2nd]]I was staring at the ending of the second arc and Maria's cute little monologue about how "There's only one Mama." Then I thought back to the fourth arc in which Rosa tears up Sakutarou and Maria kills her or begs Beatrice to kill her. Please, someone correct me if I'm just plain wrong on the details here, since at the moment, I only have bits and pieces I've seen. Okay, here goes. Before Rosa tore up Sakutarou, there was a social worker in the room. So that scene couldn't have taken place on Rokkenjima. Thus is the explanation for why we never see Sakutarou on Rokkenjima - Rosa tore Sakutarou up before they came there. However, because it took place before Rokkenjima, it's probably safe to assume it occurs in all arcs, at least until proven otherwise. However, Rosa is always on Rokkenjima, and I believe even in the fourth arc, she's killed there, even though Maria talks about killing her as soon as Sakutarou's dead. So, what changed between the second and fourth arcs? Nothing relevant to their plotline as far as I can tell. In the second arc in particular, we are left with Maria and Rosa alone in the rose garden (discounting goat-headed butlers), which leaves me to suspect that at the least, one killed the other, and based on this line of thinking, I'm suspecting that Maria killed Rosa.

[[WMG:Maria is the result of a rape]]Social support for rape victims is sometimes poor even now, and would have been considerably worse when Maria was conceived. Often, rape victims were (and are) held as responsible for what happened to them, so Rosa would not have expected any sympathy at all for what happened to her. She's kept her mouth shut about just what happened because telling someone would just make things worse. In an upper-class family, she could become outcast and cut off from her inheritance even if it wasn't her fault. This would explain why she won't give anyone the name of Maria's father. It's simply too painful to talk about. (When I feel really cynical I think it was Kinzo.) Rosa loves Maria, but something about her features when she says "uu" has come, as Maria gets older, to remind Rosa of the man who raped her. That's why it's so very hard for her to tolerate it, and why Rosa is so inconsistent as a mother.* while rape is not impossible, rosa stated that she got pregnant with her fiancee so i find it ulikely.** But according to this theory, Rosa has every reason to lie. Even to Maria. After all, you wouldn't want to let a little nine year old girl know that she was the result of a rape. ** It's not like anythign Rosa says can be taken seriously. This is a theory this troper has personally always believed, it would explain quite a bit about why she's so broken and her bipolar attitude towards her daughter. In most of the later arcs, Rosa seems to imply [[spoiler: that Maria wasn't wanted at all.]]. Rosa being raped would make perfect sense...why else [[spoiler: would she have a daughter if she spends a good bit of [=EP4=] going on about how she never wanted a daughter?]]*** I haven't played the games or gotten that far in anything else, but...[[spoiler:[[ExactWords maybe she was after a son?]]]]

[[WMG:The "[[KingArthur Pendragon-sama]]" the Siestas report to is not Arthur, but ''[[FateStayNight Arturia]]'' Pendragon.]]Because why not? There are apparently trillions upon quadrillions upon quintillions upon googleplexes of kakera out there; why couldn't one of them be the {{Nasuverse}}?* Given that [[color:red:Chi[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi e]] is based of [[{{Tsukihime}} C]]iel]], I'd say its more likely to be Arturia then Arthur.

[[WMG: There are three murderers on Rokkenjima. ]]Well, not all at once. They take turns.

The '''disorganised killer''' from the first and fourth chapters: kills by smashing their victim's faces. Takes their victims seemingly at random from the parents and servants.

The '''theatrical killer''' from the second chapter: kills in a flashy ''grand guignol'' way. Kills every parent but Rosa.

The '''organised killer''' from the third chapter: kills in a neat and nearly bloodless way. Arranges the corpses in an elaborate 'locked room' pattern which is perhaps more clever than frightening. Kills servants + Kinzo's already-dead corpse.

''Every episode, the Unknown Mastermind takes one of the cast aside and tell them: Kill according to the epitaph and all the gold in the Golden Land is yours. Do otherwise and die yourself.''

The murderer for the first chapter was ''meant'' to be Rudolf. But being a principled fellow, he tells the mastermind to go to hell. Later, aware that he has signed his death warrant, he confesses to his wife and son: "I will probably die tonight." Without a catspaw, the Mastermind rampages through the mansion, killing at random.

The murderer for the second chapter is... Rosa? Maybe? Certainly she has the means and motive. On the other hand, there is such thing as ''too'' obvious.

The murderer for the third chapter is Kyrie, obviously. The first twilight practically screams it from the rooftops: 'Hello, I was committed by someone who is perhaps a little too proud of her intellect, but hates getting blood on her hands!'

The designated murderer for the fourth chapter is among the dead: like Rudolf, they made their principled stand and died for it, because the '''disorganised killer''' was unleashed again.

* But Kyrie dies too in the third arc, at the hands of Eva-Beatrice. Does the mastermind switch to use Eva as a pawn? Why?** After the first twilight, the snafu principle takes over. You've got survivors killing one another out of paranoia, killers killing more people to cover their tracks, half a dozen secret schemes coming unglued and trainwrecking into each other at 100 miles an hour... The simple explanation for Kyrie's death is something like: "Kyrie and Rudolf took Hideyoshi to the mansion to blackmail him over Rosa's murder, but they had a falling-out with guns."

[[WMG:There is a stranger on the island. We've already seem their face: though a glass darkly.]]Gaap is the only demon to not obviously correspond to a house servant. But for the pattern to hold, she must have ''some'' real world 'vessel'.

The Siestas are based on Maria's impression of her toy rabbits. In the same way, it's easy to see how in a child's eyes Genji could become an infinitely stylish demon, or Kumasawa become a witch, or the physically imposing Gohda become a goat-man (or maybe she was just free-associating off the name?) So, reverse the looking-glass logic that turns men into demons and we get... what?* ...What about Renon or Manon? They've been [[NominalImportance name-dropped]] but not seen yet; that doesn't mean ''Maria's'' never met them...

A short time before the start of the story, Rudolf contacts his illegitimate son by Kyrie (call him Our Battler) to impersonate his vanished half-brother (call him Other Battler[[hottip:* :Or Sento-kun]]) at the family meeting. Male heirs are a big deal in Kinzo's eyes: it could be the deciding factor in the inheritance fight. In return, Rudolf will legally recognise him as 'Ushiromiya Battler'. It takes a few months of coaching, but while several express incredulity at Battler's changes, nobody calls their bluff.

Then the murders happen. The purpose of the murders is to drive Battler to confessing his sin of six years ago. The real Battler would have leapt up and cried: 'Yes! I confess, I did it!' Our Battler just sits there in a passive lump thinking 'Why am I here? These people are ''insane!'''

But... Meta-Battler doesn't know any of this. The metaworld characters are impressions of realworld people or objects. He isn't 'really' Battler -- he's somebody's ''impression'' of Battler! Complete with an inferred history which would have proved impervious to anything but the red text. (Take it a bit further and it can also explain why Meta-Battler is a supercool action lawyer, and Our Battler is almost comatose).

It's no coincidence Meta-Battler vanishes in a puff of logic in the same scene that Beatrice realises Our Battler is unable to remember his sin. As Sakutaro demonstrated, a metacharacter 'dies' when their creator can't sustain belief in them any more.

[[WMG: Beatrice's epi-taff?]]Uuu. You mean the puzzle Grandpa made? Maria thought it was fun. Maria took all lunchtime to get it.

Uuuuu! Uuu! Stop shaking Maria! Uu! Stop! Stop! ...Yes, Maria solved it two years ago. Maria thought it was much more fun that all the puzzles in her puzzle book. Uuuu. Don't shout at Maria. No, Maria never told any of her aunties or uncles about what she did.

Beatrice specifically asked Maria not to.

Uuuu! Maria didn't know people could turn that colour!

* * knock knock* Who're you talking to in there, Maria? Sakutaro?** Oh, come in, Jessica. Maria has something she wants to say about last night that I think you ought to hear, ihihihihi.*** (Respondent here.) Oh, very cute, George. Have you tried imitating Battler to his face? I think he'd like it! Hmph-heh-heh-heh! [[hottip:* :Wasn't [=RPing=] as a canon character, but rather inserting my OC in there.]]

[[WMG: Battler has amnesia]]Battler arrives on Rokkenjima for the first time in six years of abandoning the family name. And yet, he gets along quite well with his cousins and his stepmother for someone who gave up on the whole lot of them. In fact, he even has a good impression originally of people like Eva, who's probably the hardest Ushiromiya to get along with. Here's a theory: six years ago, Battler's mother died, in some sort of horribly traumatic way, because of Battler. He didn't mean for it to happen, but the shock was too much and he ran away. Over time, he repressed his memories and convinced himself that it was actually Rudolf he was mad at.

[[WMG: The story is more closely connected to [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]] than anyone realizes.]]Umineko's alternate title is "When They Cry 3". Of course, Higurashi was When They Cry 1 and Higurashi Kai was When They Cry 2. So why assume that Bern and Lambda's appearances/"real-world" identities are the only link between them when the title itself implies Umineko is a sequel? Episode 4 has revealed another Higurashi character as connected (albeit loosely) with the Ushiromiyas.

Perhaps Rokkenjima is a test site for a weaponized form of Hinamizawa Syndrome. Or perhaps it's the other way around, and witch's magic was directly responsible for the Hinamizawa incidents. Either way, something tells me we haven't heard the last of Keiichi and co. (Also, I'm led to believe that in the original visual novels, Satoshi's whereabouts were still unknown by the end, although they changed this in the anime. Perhaps he is somehow involved in the Rokkenjima incident?)* They found Satoshi at the end of Higurashi Kai's VN (I'm pretty sure; the Kai adaptation was much more faithful than vanilla Higurashi) so I don't think he's related to Rokkenjima. And if you're talking about Okonogi, he only came in recently. Most likely after the Hinamizawa project fell through, he decided to start a legitimate business and became successful after meeting with Hideyoshi and striking a deal with him. In the span of 3 years, I doubt he would have any significance and was thrown in as a cameo.* Dlanor denies the possibilities of a disease or paranoia epidemic happening on the island. Ryukishi07 has also stated in an interview that he would not be pulling something like that again, and has officially denied the possibility of Hinamizawa Syndrome or something like it from ever showing up.

[[WMG: What really happened in ''Turn of the Golden Witch''?]]While attending to the family conference late in the evening, Rosa came by the kitchen and mentioned to Gohda that there was going to be a Halloween party for Maria in the chapel the next day. Thinking this was a wonderful idea, Gohda decided to make some special treats for the occasion, but because he was distracted he accidentally reached for the box marked "Tiny Food Bombs" instead of the sugar. He gave some of the treats to Rosa, who took them to her siblings. They all went to the chapel to check out the party since they'd probably be too tired in the morning, when the tiny food bombs exploded and killed everyone but Rosa, who wasn't hungry.

Later, Gohda was hanging out and he heard Jessica having an asthma attack. Rushing upstairs, he found Kanon with her and reached for her inhaler, but as he swung it over to give it to her she tripped and he accidentally impaled her in the back with it. Kanon assumed he was trying to kill her and they struggled, and Gohda accidentally pushed Kanon out the window. Realizing he was going to get in so much trouble for this, he quietly locked the window, planted a stake in Jessica's wound, and walked off whistling.

While bored, Gohda decided to show off a new knife trick he learned to Nanjo and Kumasawa. Disaster occurred. Genji suggested they blame Kanon for it so nobody would find out, and dump the bodies somewhere.

Later in the evening, George and Shannon refused to believe Gohda's claim that he was capable of juggling three Stakes of Purgatory at the same time. Upset, Gohda offered to prove it to them in Natsuhi's room. Tragically, he was not as proficient as he thought he was.

Genji called Battler upstairs to tell him everything. Battler couldn't accept this ridiculous scenario, and declared that it was more likely that a witch did it.

* [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented! Furthermore, there is no indication that the family owns any "Tiny Food Bombs", much less keeps them where they could be accidentally mixed into anything.]] [[color:blue:Gohda accidentally grabbed poison instead of tiny bombs. Afterward, he and Rosa lifted one of the keys and snuck into the chapel to make it look like Beatrice did it, hoping like hell that nobody would look at the corpses too closely.]]** OBJECTION! [[color:red:Starting when Maria's key was received, and until the instant Rosa unsealed it the next day, it passed through no one's hands!!]] [[color:blue:someone on the island hid actual corpses of different people that looked like those who were murdered inside the chapel before everyone arrived on the island. then after killing those 6 people, hid their bodies away.]]

[[WMG: George is a killer]]In the first episode, he leads Maria to the exact spot of the dying rose and then gives her the idea of marking it so she can find it later. As a ''direct result'' of this Maria stays outside in the rain, meets 'Beatrice', and receives a letter that causes the fight over the inheritance to come out into the open. Maria also trusts him implicitly ("what George-oniichan says is always true"). He could easily manipulate her if he wanted to. He's also been trained in martial arts by Eva (herself not an exemplar of stability) and proved himself willing to sacrifice his entire family to get what he wants, and his lines to Shannon are more than a little creepy ("This is an order").

Plus he's way too normal for the Ushiromiya family.* if we are to trust battler's pov, he has the best alibi for most of the crimes (he either is with battler or dead most of the time). * While he ''does'' have an excellent alibi, this could be explained by him being the mastermind and teaming up with Shannon, whose status is uncertain and who can therefore be the killer. There is actually a ''lot'' of strength and thing to support this theory. Especially since at this point we're almost certain that there are multiple culprits and a different one in every game. Plus George seriously comes across as {{Yandere}} for Shannon sometimes.

[[WMG:The mastermind isn't even on the island at all]]Why bother coming up with a brilliant plan to eliminate the entire Ushiromiya clan at one shot and get all their money, and then ruin it by getting caught up in the bloodbath? Nahhh. Whoever the mastermind is, he or she is enjoying a nice drink and waiting for the whole mess to be over.* [[color:red:Knox's 1st! It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story! A person that was not first introduced in the]] [[color:blue:first]] [[color:red:game cannot be named as the culprit!]]** But it was never explicitly stated in red or in gold that the events of Rokkenjima follow Knox's decalog. Knox's decalog has been mentioned many times in red, but those are merely self-affirming truths. No one has ever said in red "Knox's rules are in effect!", just "Your theory goes against Knox's rules!". Which is true, but meaningless if Knox's rules aren't in effect. [[color:blue:The witches are clearly trolling us, and we have no proof that the Rokkenjima events follow Knox's rules.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:gold:Citing Knox's Decalogue is fair game until it is proven that the Decalogue doesn't apply to Beato's game.]]**** In that case, [[color:blue:Kawabata is the culprit.]]***** (Respondent here.) Who?****** The boat captain, apparently.******* (Respondent here.) [[color:red:He '''is''' the boat captain.]] I just noticed it before posting this.

[[WMG: Kinzo's running a secret cloning facility on Rokkenjima]]He certainly has the money and the insane tenacity to do it, and it would explain the whole myth of 'furniture' if they really were artifical humans. Beatrice and Jessica could be sisters, one an imperfect copy given to Krauss and Natsuhi, and one raised to be Kinzo's perfect woman.

[[WMG: Bernkastel is wrong - Beatrice's victory conditions do not include Battler acknowledging magic and witches]]Talk all you want about noise in explaining characters' actions, but everything Beatrice did after Ange appeared in the third arc - essentially rubbing Battler's nose in the fact that she tricked him after she had spent all that time trying to convince him that she reformed - goes beyond mere noise and into VillainBall self-destructiveness territory if that was really her aim. For god's sake, he had to be ridiculed three times in a row by her before he was finally convinced that she had tricked him. Chances are, if she had simply treated Ange as a lunatic - especially with how suspicious of her Battler proved to be later - she probably could have gotten him to sign. That's a heck of an opportunity squandered.* Highly considerable. Now that he's the Endless Sorcerer, he can argue that "while witches and magic definitely exist, they did not play a role in the murders" and still win without denying either his own or Beato's existence.

[[WMG: The money letters weren't intended to 'mock the dead']]They were an anonymous ''gift''. By someone who had already solved the epitaph and moved much of the gold to the mainland before the families arrived, or left it in place and used it as collateral for a loan (as Kinzo did). We know this because the money vault must have been planned weeks in advance, but the murders are wholly opportunistic. They must be. Barring a weather machine, ''the killer had no way of knowing Rokkenjima would be cut off in advance!''* By extension, the individual who writes in Maria's diary and writes the bottle letters must also be innocent.* Did it really matter if they knew the island would be cut off? They could have just been intending to cut the phone lines, so no one could call the police, and then kill everyone that night. The storm just worked in their favor.

[[WMG: White King to capture Black Witch in four moves: Checkmate]]The Black Witch was waiting for Kinzo when he arrived at Rokkenjima. The Black Witch blessed each of his heirs in the cradle. The Black Witch is never going to abandon the family until they are dead to the last man.

The Black Witch can't forgive the person she was yesterday -- forgiveness, in general, is not her thing.

The Black Witch is pretty interesting. Firstly, she's much cooler as a villain than the Golden Witch or the Candy-Goth Witch. Secondly, she's actually killable by ordinary anti-fantasy humans. Though for the Ushiromiya it might take a miracle.

(Or maybe MARIA, Witch Of Origins, comes zooming back and fights and defeats her with laser beams made of pure love, and all the people reading for the mystery/family drama elements curl up on the floor and die. Either way.)

The Black Witch was born -- the Ushiromiya started coming unglued -- on the day Kinzo married his late wife for prestige, rather than Beatrice for love. The magical gold is valueless without love.

The only way to 'win' is to reverse the split between ideals and forms, love and duty, Beatrice and Kinzo, the meta-universe and Rokkenjima. Merging Battler and Meta-Battler is the only way Meta-Battler can return to his family as he promised -- removing the contradictions between the two worlds is the only way to heal the wound of Beato's soul. The only way to answer her plea 'who am I?' And the only way to unmask the killer once and for all.

[[WMG: Battler never returned to Rokkenjima]]Hold onto your hats, because things are going to get cracky.

Battler and Maria are practically joined at the hip. Try and count the number of scenes with Battler where Maria isn't already present 'playing by herself', or doesn't appear partway through. Note how in the only arc where Maria doesn't live to the end of the ritual, Battler retreats to his room in the guesthouse and the plot focus shifts to the adults and Meta-Battler. Note how many dynamic and plot-relevant interactions his cousins have with one another, and how quickly his role collapses into passive observation.

Battler Ushiromiya? '''More like [[FightClub Bat-Tyler Durden]]!''' Battler's objective testimony is actually ''Maria's'' testimony! Battler is a figment of her imagination, a big-brother image she invented to protect her after the witch image turned sinister.

* By this, do we assume Ange was in on it, or that Battler was an ImaginaryFriend that Maria and Ange shared? You need to take her 1998 story into account.** Easy. Battler Ushiromiya is a real person, [[color:blue:but the person on the island is a joint ImaginaryFriend based on the real Battler]].*** (Respondent here.) Then where is the real Battler? Why isn't he on the island with the family? If Meta-Battler (now the Endless Sorcerer) is Maria, then who is MARIA, Witch Of Origins? Don't get me wrong, your "Joint ImaginaryFriend" theory has some ground, but, due to multiple scenes, a number of which are in [=EP5=], having the family interacting with Battler despite Maria being absent, said theory would have to extend beyond Maria and Ange and have the whole family in on it.**** (2nd respondent.) [[color:blue:He's dead. Maria refused to let go, and developed a SplitPersonality based on her memories of Battler, which we will call Battler-Prime, or B'. Meta-Battler is B', who shares a body with Maria, who is MARIA (each personality having its own magical form). B' sometimes "takes over" and sometimes manifests as an ImaginaryFriend, and when B' is in control the family recognizes that and acts accordingly. Maria's "death" was actually "Maria" witnessing something traumatic enough to drive her catatonic, so B' takes over when it can.]]

[[WMG: Beato is playing to lose]]Despite Lambda's rationalisations, Beato's meltdown at the end there felt pretty authentic. No ''surprise'': even an insensetive woman like herself must have picked up that absolutely everyone from her boss to her mentor to her [[strike:boy]]toy are gunning for her blood. But she can't lose too fast too soon, or Lambda punches her ticket to hell. Besides, as much as it terrifes her, she'll never know 'who am I?' if she can't expose herself to the light of truth.* Confirmed in [=EP5=], with this Red Truth by Virgilia(?): "[[color:red:Beato wanted you to solve it, so she made this game...the riddles of this tale...solvable.]]"

[[WMG: Beato has already lost]]She checkmated herself the moment she declared (and gloated!) about Kinzo's alive-or-dead status. Before then, she had the easiest job in the world: Can't you trust your own eyes? What kind of a crazy person denies what's happening right in front of them? But now ''everybody'' has to skeptically re-evaluate every scene they've witnessed. In effect there ''is'' no Anti-Mystery any more: only Anti-Fantasy and Anti-Fantasy-With-A-Witch.* [[color:blue: The scenes with Kinzo are all genuine, he is some kind of undead being and thus is not counted as a living human]]** [[color:red:Unless you are proposing that there is some kind of hypertech revivification technology present]] [[color:blue:(which would raise its own set of problems),]] [[color:red:a claim that Kinzo is undead in an Anti-Fantasy-Which-May-Or-May-Not-Contain-A-Witch is a self-contradicting position!]]*** (Respondent here.):[[color:red: That blue truth is meant to counter the claim that Beato lost when she declared Kinzo's alive-or-death status. In other words, it is meant to offer an explanation for all of the Kinzo scenes which doesn't require unreliable narrators. Thus, it is an Anti-Mystery theory.]]*** [[color:red:Ah, I see.]] Allow me to respond then: [[color:red:This story cannot require information not presented to explain. There is no evidence that Kinzo can be resurrected.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, any explaination of this story requiring Kinzo to be reanimated fails.]]**** [[color:blue: In that case Kinzo is a ghost.]] *** [[color:red:Plausible, given the old name of the island, ]][[color:blue:(and that will eventually be explained the way "Onigafuchi" did) but it's tenuous at best.]]

[[WMG:What's the plot device?]]''{{Higurashi}}'' had some plot devices that stretched the boundaries of science. ''Umineko'' warns us it's not following the rules of Fair Play ''in the opening credits''. So what're the candates here?* '''Hypnotism.''' A suspicious number of witnesses to supernatural events who are 'too confused' to go into details. A suspicious number of previously rational people who become True Believers as soon as they get out of Battler's sight. A trick that can modify a person's perceptions or memories.* '''Time/space nexus.''' Like the island from a popular television program, Rokkenjima sits at the crossing point for multiple parallel universes. Hence why characters can be alive, dead and absent simultaneously, why Kanon gets more screen time as a dead man than alive, how the killer can walk out of a locked room and murders can happen when every every named character has an alibi. The murder from arc X might have been perpetrated by the murderer from arc X+ 1. The mutually-contradictory message bottles are remnants of worlds that were 'collapsed' when the typhoon passed. Kinzo knew about the island's 'magical' properties, of course: he's depending on them for his one-in-a-quadrillion miracle to occur.* '''Demon possession'''[[hottip:* :(Keiichi had to be right eventually)]]'''.''' Rokkenjima's alluded-to previous reputation as Akujishima, ''island of soul-eating spectres''. 'Beatrice's' confusion as to her identity. The constantly-shifting roles of killer and victim. Ange deciding to avenge the tragic murders on Rokkenjima by... murdering seven people with stakes. Don't breathe the air at Rokkenjima: Beatrice might be catching.* '''Prophecy:'''Witches are created by the forces of Destiny to carry out the Epitaph. Stating anything that has not been determined in red text [[RetCon retcons]] it to [[SchrodingersGun something that is true for some intrepetation of all red text used so far]], and is itself a prophecy. Red text that would falsify all possible interpretations of the Epitaph or another red text cannot be spoken. Even if this isn't the case, it gives me a great idea for an RPG...

[[WMG:Kyrie killed Asumu]]You know, usually, when you hear about someone having died, especially when they're as key to a main character's backstory as Asumu is to Battler's, you usually hear more detail about how it happened. What exactly do we know about Asumu's death except that she died six years ago, prompting Battler to leave? Was she sick? Did she topple off a bridge? [[WomenInRefrigerators Get locked into her own fridge?]] The narrator's holding out on us. I think perhaps the wording "died" instead of "was killed" is supposed to imply that none of the main characters thinks it was murder, but that doesn't mean it wasn't. There are plenty of ways to kill people that make it look like an accident. We already know that Kyrie harbored a lot of resentment against Asumu - she certainly had long-term motive, even if we don't know what would actually trigger her to suddenly do it twelve years after Battler was born. Perhaps instead of cursing Asumu, as Kyrie suggests in the third arc, instead, she gave fate a little... push.* I read somewhere that Kyrie says that if Asumu hadn't died on her own, then [[MurderTheHypotenuse Kyrie would have killed her,]] [[{{Yandere}} just so she could have Rudolf.]]** That's in [=EP6=]. Assuming we can trust anything in a scene that has Jessica as a demon-possessed killer, Kyrie flat-out admitted it to her.

[[WMG:The burning of Kinzo's corpse is being conducted by Natsuhi/Krauss]]The people who would almost certainly know of Kinzo's death are Genji, Nanjo, Krauss + Natushi and potentially Shannon/Kanon. As evidenced by Episode 3, the death of all the servants doesn't stop Kinzo from ending up in the incinerator. And if Nanjo was on the one burning the corpse, then why is it burned in every episode except for EP.2 - where he survived to the end, as normal?

Taking these considerations into account, along with Natsuhi's acknowledgement of "taking care of Father" to Krauss in Episode 2 is almost certain evidence that they're responsible.

[[WMG:George and Shannon aren't lovers]]It may sound strange to question this premise, but consider that all of their romantic narration is marked by a lack of credibility, given that it happens outside Battler's narration and is rendered specious by the presence of magic and witches. Furthermore, ask yourselves the following question; why have George and Shannon never been the victims of the second twilight, in spite of being the most obvious pair of victims for it? Keep in mind that whether you're anti-fantasy or anti-mystery, the killer is attempting to follow the epitaph to make the murders (appear) occult and the fact that the most obvious choice has been overlooked 4 times in a row seems strange. * Has George ever admitted it directly to Battler? I know that Jessica has speculated about it to him, but I'm not sure whether he's actually said it. But if so, I wonder why George inquired about the ring in the first arc...** I don't believe he has; most of what Battler knows of their relationship is either an implied conclusion or conjecture. And with regards to George's inquiry of the ring, that can also be explained if we examine the scene closely - recall that no one apart from Hideyoshi and Kanon actually see "Shannon's" corpse in the shed and that the majority of the dialogue in the scene was that poignantly melodramatic exchange between Hideyoshi, George and Eva. In other words, Shannon was in collusion with the three of them to fake her death as part of an elaborate ruse. The fact that her corpse was identified allows her to be a loophole in the red regarding the first twilight of Episode 4.*** But in order to do that, all would have had to know that those murders were going to take place, right? And the murderer would have had to know to only kill five people instead of six. And so that makes it likely that one of them was the murderer that time.**** You're forgetting [[spoiler:Kinzo has already been long dead.]] This makes it far easier for someone in the original twilight to fake their death. Plus, if the theory about [[spoiler:Kanon being Shannon]] is true, then that would easily keep George's innocence while exposing Hideyoshi and Eva as accomplices, who were murdered shortly afterwards to hide their tracks. Was it ever said in red that the chain was still on the door when they were murdered?***** "''.......That's right, it was me. .......Last night, I proposed to her. That was when I gave her the ring. .....I told her that tomorrow, she should put it on whatever finger she wanted, as her answer. ...Haha, I sound so full of myself. ... So I handed her the engagement ring, and then, .....it was all over.''" -George, ''Legend of the Golden Witch''****** Is it in red? For all we know, she could be wearing a ring for some other reason.******* [[color:gold:The Red Truth rule had not been implemented when that occurred. The meta-world did not even exist yet at that point in time.]]******** Are you sure about that? In ep 4 (at least the Witch Hunt translation) they mention the first twilight of the first episode and comenting on the murders there and if the victims were realy dead or not since Beatrice hadn't used her red truth there (it's not said but probably as you said because it wasnät implimented there). This seems to indicate that the Metaworld actually existed in the first arc.

[[WMG:The shipwrecked person in the screnshots of Episode 5 is Natsuhi]]She has apparently no contact with her original family and is totally loyal to the Ushiromiyas. Maybe they saved her life?* Interesting theory, but sadly it is {{Jossed}}. The shipwrecked lady is Erika Furudo, an {{Expy}} of Rika from Higurashi.** That is not to say that the content is {{Jossed}}, though.*** (Respondent here.) That's true, but unless it's a separate incident, the shipwreck in question happened to Erika, not Natsuhi. Perhaps the Ushiromiyas '''did''' save Natsuhi, and perhaps Natsuhi '''was''' shipwrecked, but unless you can prove it wasn't Erika's shipwreck we were seeing, this WMG is {{Jossed}}.

[[WMG:Maria doesn't have a father - she HasTwoMommies, Rosa and Beatrice]]Rosa didn't want to marry and give up the family name, but she wanted a child. Either with or without her knowledge Beatrice heard this and gave her a child ala ''StarWars'' and Anakin, and Rosa was too freaked out by the sudden pregnancy to try to get help from anyone. She thought this was a blessing until Maria started acting strangely, so Maria is simultaneously a blessing and a curse to Rosa. It also gives Beatrice a shoe-in in the family to have Maria be there.

[[WMG:Both Bernkastel and Lambdadelta will lose]]Perhaps all Battler has to do is accept that Beatrice exists, but prove that she is not the person committing the murders. Mind you, if he proclaims that he believes too soon, it'll be his loss, so if such a scenario were to occur, it'd happen in the sixth game at the very earliest.* I, too, think that this is how Battler is going to end up winning.

[[WMG:Battler's and George's hypothesis about the first note from Beatrice is right.]]In the first arc, George and Battler suggest considering the note as a type of ransom - figure out the riddle of the gold, or everyone dies. After they suggest it, though, Nanjo shoots it down by asking why it wouldn't be simpler to simply interrogate Kinzo. The characters didn't know about Kinzo's condition at that point, and so that question basically ended that theory right there. However, now that we know that Kinzo's dead, it would not, in fact, be simpler to interrogate him. The note was sent all of a sudden at the reunion because that's when more people than just Krauss and Natsuhi would be there, allowing for more people who might know more things about Kinzo to answer. Of course, this theory would require the note-sender (and probable mastermind) to know that Kinzo was already dead, and so interrogating him would be a waste of time. Isn't that right, '''Kinzo's personal physician who shot down the theory in the first place'''?

[[WMG: The reason why Lambdadelta doesn't know what happened in [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi]]...]]...Is because Studio DEEN cut out almost every instance of Bernkastel appearing or being mentioned. The poems, the [=TIPs=], her birth... nada. This counts as an Anti-Fantasy stance -- or at least, an Anti-Witch stance, effectively 'warding' her off. She's currently struggling through the series, but that little detail, along with the AdaptationDecay and AdaptationExpansion, is subconsciously warding her off.* [[AceAttorney HOLD IT!!!]] Higurashi Rei. Final episode. After waking up, Rika mentions to Hanyuu that she (Rika) should return to being "Rika Furude" and stop being "the witch, Bernkastel."* This is also why Lambdadelta appears as a young girl, because when's the ''only time'' they actually show Bernkastel (outside of a certain {{Omake}})...? Bern's a LittleMissSnarker because that's how Lambdadelta percieves her. That, or she's {{Troll}}ing her.

[[WMG: Beatrice is powered by [[YourMindMakesItReal belief]]... including Battler's.]]Despite his denials, Battler ''does believe'' in Beatrice... on some level, he ''has'' to. He simply can't accept that somebody he cares about, whether a member of his own family or a devoted servant, is actually a cold-blooded killer. Hence his desperation to prove that there's a stranger on the island, an outsider to blame; in lieu of that, he uses Beatrice. Beactrice, who in his view of her, is a CompleteMonster, a heartless, sadistic ''witch'' who has torn his entire family away from him, rather than the magical savior Maria believes in.

In fact, most people on Rokkenjima believe she's more of a manipulative spirit than a benevolent one... therein lies the problem. Someone uses that legend and perception to their advantage; now, she's locked into character.

If Battler accepts that she exists as-is, then he's going to be tortured and toyed with forever. If he manages to completely reject that she exists, he'll wake up... alone. The sole survivor, forced to deal with harsh reality. If he keeps wavering back and forth, unable to decide, they'll be trapped in this deadlock forever.

The ''real'' condition for him to win, therefore, is to accept that Beatrice exists... and that she has been manipulated and influenced by sick, pessimistic minds. He must ''work together with her'' to transform her into a guardian spirit who can truly ''save'' the Ushiromiya... and, in the process, save herself as well.

They might have managed this during the third arc, but their efforts were being subverted -- a small part of him still couldn't let go of the image of her as a manipulative monster, and that was leading towards disaster. ''This'' is why, once Ange-Beatrice showed up, Beatrice latched onto the VillainBall for dear life, desperately trying to convince Battler "Yes, ''YES'', I'm evil, I tricked you, ''now for MY SAKE get pissed at me and '''FIGHT'''!''" She has to be fully accepted by him, ''and fully'' ''[[LoveRedeems redeemed]]''.

* Therefore, Bernkastel may actually be assisting them in a cold, calcuated, manipulative way. ''Somebody'' has to seem much, much worse than Beatrice, after all... Virgilia could be in on it, too.* So would that make Ange-Beatrice a complete figment of Battler's subconscious?** Maybe not. Ange-Beatrice was born from Ange's desire to see her brother again, Battler's desire to see his sister again, and Bernkastel's manipulations. (The PlotRelevantAgeUp and BrotherSisterIncest [[{{Squick}} implications]], however, may be mainly because Battler is a bit of an egocentric lech who unconciously took his sister's devotion a ''biiiiit'' too far. His interests sort of explain the Stakes and the Siestas, when you think about it...) She's all about getting Battler motivated via emotional gut punch -- and when he finds out who's [[TheManBehindTheMan the Witch behind the Witch]] who got her ''involved''...*** Okay then, let me just prod a bit more - if Ange-Beatrice isn't a figment of Battler's subconscious, then the fact that she showed up when she did in order to pop his happy bubble seems to be a bit of a strike of luck for his subconscious, giving him an opportunity to portray Beatrice once again as a manipulative sadist. What on earth would have happened if she hadn't shown up?*** As mentioned, his subconcious was working against him -- on some level, he ''didn't fully trust Beatrice''. He was going along with it because everyone seemed so ''happy'' and was headed for a Good End in the Golden Land, but at the same time, he wasn't fully convinced... just coasting along trying to ignore that nagging sense that something wasn't quite right. He still thought she was a manipulative sadist, but was trying to pretend otherwise because he felt SympathyForTheDevil. If he had signed, it would've been his loss, Evil!Beatrice would've 'shown her TrueColors', and it'd be a very BAD END for all involved.

[[WMG:Meta-Battler is, himself, a witch, or, "madan," to make it gender appropriate]]Many seem to be convinced at this point that meta-Battler isn't the same person as Battler. Similarly, Bernkastel is not the same person as Furude Rika, Eva-Beatrice is not the same person as Eva, and Ange-Beatrice isn't the same person as Ange. The unifying thing about those three witches is that they were born out of the characters they represent's determination to achieve something or another against their fate. So if meta-Battler and Battler aren't the same, then what's the point of meta-Battler? Is he not an embodiment of Battler's own determination to change his own fate of having himself and his family killed by a witch (Whether you focus on his denial of witches, which negates the second part, or think he's having some sort of breakdown, which negates the first part, that goal should encompass both)? In which case, even though he lacks a super-fancy outfit, would that not likely make him a witch in his own right?\\So why can't he use magic too? Because magic is powered by not just determination, but faith and belief as well. Battler is automatically denying himself the use of magic by denying the existance of witches in his duel with Beatrice. In order to be able to use the magic to change his fate, Battler will ultimately have to accept their existance, though not necessarily their involvement in the murders that have taken place. Until then, he will be dueling both Beatrice and fate with one figurative hand tied behind his back.* Does Battler becoming the Endless Sorcerer at the end of [=EP5=] count?

[[WMG: In the [[AdaptationDecay anime]], Lambdadelta is pretending to be Maria.]]At least for the first arc. She's secretly replaced her and is slaughtering everyone else, setting up the chessboard for her 'endless game'. That way, Battler can never prove that "[[DoingInTheWizard A witch didn't do it]]" and will be stuck there forever. But she's not very good at ''acting'' human, hence the apparent {{Flanderization}} and all the wild and crazy expressions.* Interesting. Would explain why she's a fucking psycho in [=EP1=].

[[WMG: Nanjo is the new [[spoiler:[[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Takano]]]]]]Seriously, they even carry similar(ish) expressions. Plus, they both seem relatively inconspicuous at first, until the later chapters show conflicts with their testimonies and such.

And they're both medical practitioners, of course.* There's a WMG below that says Nanjo was involved in [=EP3=]'s murders. This would go so well with it.* The biggest problem that I can see is that it's much less likely that one can fake their deaths on the island, so unless you can come up with an explanation for why he only survived the 9 twilights once, he can't be the only one. Then there was the explicit statement referring to Episode 1, wherein it was stated in red that "Nanjo is not a murderer", so at the very least, he didn't kill anyone during Episode 1.** Except that she's using just his last name. Usually, either first names or both names are used. However, Nanjo has a son who could serve as an easy escape hatch on this. It should be clarified to "Terumasa Nanjo is not a murderer."

[[WMG: Prior to his sin, Battler was Beatrice's apprentice.]]In other words, he was just like Maria once: not only did he faithfully believe in magic, he wanted to be a witch (or warlock, or madan), so he became Beatrice's apprentice. He trusted her completely, certain that he had nothing to fear -- Beatrice would make everything better. Or help him ''make'' things better. Even as he grew older and was supposed to 'outgrow such silly superstitions', he still believed in Beatrice.

Then something horrible happened. Maybe Asumu grew ill and passed away, even though Battler pleaded with Beatrice to save her. Maybe his relationship with Asumu wasn't that great and he cursed her before her death. (This could've been accidental: maybe he heard his parents fighting and cursed the 'other woman', the one who ''wasn't'' his mother... and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero whoops]]!) Whatever the case, he took out his anger on Beatrice, blaming her for everything and declaring her an evil, heartless witch.

He may even have been the one who originally taught Maria that Beatrice was a good witch before having his falling out with Beato six years ago. He could even have gone on a rant in front of his impressionable cousin afterwards, disavowing Beatrice as evil and horrible and scarring poor little Maria's mind, skewing her pure-hearted belief in the Golden Witch towards a more [[TheFairFolk old-school fairies mindset]].* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice.]]** There's more than one Battler and more than one Beatrice. That statement could easily refer to original!Battler or Virgilia, the predecessor Beatrice.** [[color:blue:Battler's sin was cursing Asumu, which, while not a sin between Battler and Beatrice, led directly to their falling-out.]]*** (1st respondent here.) [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] Show me evidence that Battler's sin was against Asumu, and that her death contributed to Battler denying Beato, and I will promote that Blue Truth to Red Truth**** [[color:blue:battler's sin occurred the same year Asumu died/Rudolf married Kyere/and Battler ran away from home to marry his grandparents. i propose that this is sufficient evidence to prove the two are related!]]

[[WMG: Battler's sin is that he broke a ChildhoodMarriagePromise to Beatrice.]] As a child, his mind and heart were open to Beatrice, and he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. So he promised her that he'd marry her when he grew up. And Beatrice took him at his word, because a pure-hearted and innocent love like his would surely dispel the possessive, jealous love that chained her to Rokkenjima.

...Then he had his falling out with the family and left, abandoning her. Six years later, he comes waltzing back to the island and is a total lech who acts like she doesn't even exist. [[WomanScorned No wonder she's pissed.]]* Considering the type of "Embarrassing things" Shannon recalls Battler saying, Battler seems like a regular KidAnova, or at least, [[TheLeisureSuitLarry tried to be]]. It wouldn't surprise [[DarknessLord This Troper]] if he made such promises to a lot of people and Beato was the only one who took him seriously.* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Ushiromiya Battler and Beatrice.]]** [[color:blue:The sin is ''no longer'' between Battler and Beatrice, now that he's starting to keep the promise. They just need to wrap things up, and people will stop dying.]]*** [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented! The above Red Truth states that Battler's sin was not against "Beatrice", therefore, it was against someone else]], [[color:blue:and this person that Battler sinned against is the culprit behind the murders in all of the stories.]] [[color:red:Battler Ushiromiya has a sin. Because of [Battler's] sin, people die. Due to [Battler's] sin, a great many humans on this island die. No one escapes, all die.]]*** Which Battler and which Beatrice was [=EP04=] Beato talking about anyway?

[[WMG: In the first arc, Eva knows more about the first twilight than she lets on]]A lot of Eva's behavior in the first arc is suspicious. Not of murder, but perhaps about knowing something about what would happen, similar to Rudolf. Two aspects make me wonder what she knew. First, her leaving the meeting early with Hideyoshi. Eva always wants to get a really strong upper hand, especially on matters concerning the inheritance. And we've seen the fact that she has incredible determination to get what she wants It's fishy that she would leave the negotiations so early just because she was tired, as her alibi implies. If she left the meeting early, it would make sense that something tipped her off that something bad would happen if she stayed. Second of all was her "prank" on Natsuhi. It's an incredibly pointless "prank." Doesn't cause any discomfort to Natsuhi or anything. At the same time, it isn't incredibly incriminating of her, given that we are forced to rely on her word that the receipt was shoved in the door in the first place. If she had been a murderer, it would have been much better to find a way that could have had a dramatic [[TheReveal reveal]] to all the other guests. This leads me to think that her motivation for doing that, assuming she actually did do it, was out of early suspicion of Natsuhi - suspicion even before the first twilight victims were revealed. Sort of like thinking, "Oh god, um, what do I have on hand? Ah! A receipt!" Her point was to confirm something to herself first and to figure out how to convince everyone else second.* When Kyrie suggests in the fourth episode that Kinzo is already dead, the others all seem to suspect it as well. Eva could well have been using the receipt because she suspected Kinzo was dead. If no murders had occurred, while not ironclad evidence, it would have raised sufficient doubt that Krauss and Natsuhi would have been obliged to prove Kinzo was alive if they could. When the six bodies turned up and Kinzo went missing, it must have instead seemed like evidence that Natsuhi was responsible for both.

[[WMG: If Bernkastel is Anti-Fantasied, the events of Higurashi would not happen.]]In order to survive Takano, the cast had to know what was going on. They had to be told, and this was through the Rika (Bernkastel) connection. There was no "rational" way for them to have that information. If Bernkastel loses, then the one "good end" dimension of Higurashi will not have happened. And it would be through the will of man, which surpasses gods.* Bernkastel is not Rika. And the actual link (at least in the anime; I don't know about the games) is Hanyuu.** But there '''HAS''' to be a connection between Bern and Rika, since they look so much alike.*** It's implied in the games that Rika was Bernkastel's "piece" on the game board.

[[WMG: Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are [[ChekhovsGunman less real than they seem]].]]Think about it. Way back in the first arc, Battler mentioned reading a book called [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]] right after the first twilight, I believe. And when Beatrice stared him in the face, he had to stop the idea that magic exists, but at the same time, he still had the hope that there was good magic out there, and Rika could apparently use magic. So what's stopping Battler from thinking those two up to help him? However, after he was betrayed by Beatrice, his perception of witches was forever tainted, and those two became flat-out nastier as a result of that. The only reason Ange didn't also become evil was because she had rejected magic, and so didn't really count as a witch.

[[WMG:The newest unnamed character is either a variation of Bernkastel or Maria.]]The newest character seen in the opening credits of Chiru has a mix of Bernkastel's and Maria's looks for one thing. Also, some of the servants have witch-counterparts, so why can't Maria? After all, Maria knows the most about witches and things of the occult, so it wouldn't be too weird if the newest character was born out of Maria's knowledge or desire for witches to be real. In the case of it being a variation of Bernkastel, think about the relationship between Bernkastel and Rika--the former is merely a collection of Rika's memories and past lives, so it wouldn't be too unusual if this new character turned out to be a creation from Bernkastel's memories or some other part of Bernkastel (possibly emotions?).* But doesn't Maria already have MARIA, the Witch Of Origins?** Don't forget this new character has [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]]. My guess is it's Bernkastel's game piece, just like Beato's in Chapter 2 and 4. I'm more curious as to the name, which will probably be Frederica, but she could very well become known as [[spoiler:Furude Rika]]* ..Yet another theory proved right. And I can't help but wonder- is Bernkastel basing [[spoiler: Erika Furudo]] on who she "used" to be?

[[WMG:Gaap is actually Kanon, not Shannon]]Or at the very least they get their socks from the same place (as does Lamdadelta).* Jokes aside, them being the same person does make sense, given that there's no demon mirroring Kanon.** You all forgot that ther's some kind of Meta-Kanon and Meta-Shanon in [=EP2=]. And it's also suggested that they remember previous games. Go figure. This troper thinks they mirror themeself. And remember that Siestas didn't have a possible vessel when they first appeared, Gaap might be the same.

[[WMG:Battler betrayed Asumu]]Here's what we know: Battler committed some sort of sin six years ago that did not involve Beatrice. The big thing that we know happened six years ago was Asumu's death, and Battler leaving to live with his maternal grandparents. It's pretty likely that the sin had something to do with that incident. At the same time, we know that Asumu is not Battler's biological mother. Battler apparently did not know that until the fourth arc. '''Apparently.'''

Now, let me postulate this - what if he actually found out earlier? Like, say, six years ago? What if he found out that, as the theory goes, Kyrie is his actual mother? Somehow (Maybe through the scheming that Kyrie claims Asumu did), Battler was used as a pawn for Asumu to get to Rudolf? How? Maybe through blackmail to Kyrie? "Give me your son or I let Rudolf know that you ________." She would have to be quite the schemer to outsmart Kyrie, but let's assume for a moment that she did.

And let's say that Battler's relationship with her isn't all it's cracked up to be (I know that the whole leaving thing would imply otherwise, but I'll get to that). Maybe at that time, he did something he would later come to regret, such as giving someone some information that Asumu didn't want known, or even (it actually works better this way) killing Asumu himself. Then, it hits him what he's done. "Oh my god, I just killed my mother." Because even if they didn't have a good relationship, that sort of thing is still pretty traumatic.

Then, what's the next thing he thinks? "I can't let anyone know. I've got to get out of here." And so he uses Rudolf remarrying to Kyrie so quickly as an excuse and gets out the first chance he has to go live with his grandparents. Or maybe Rudolf finds out and stages the entire fight over his remarriage in order to get Battler out of there. Maybe he stages it like that himself because Battler is so traumatized over what happened that he's practically in a ConvenientComa. When he finally does get himself together, he has TraumaInducedAmnesia and is raised with a new story of what happened that day. Which explains why he finds all of this so shocking and why he wipes himself out when he finds out.

Eh, this one might need something like [[HatePlague Hinamizawa Syndrome]] in order to work, but it's a heck of a conspiracy theory!* (In regards to the Hinamizawa Syndrome statement only) [[color:red:Knox's 4th! It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard-to-understand scientific devices to be used!]]** [[color:red:Hinamizawa Syndrome is neither a drug nor a scientific device,]] [[color:gold:but it will not be showing up again.]] [[color:blue:This does not, however, rule out the possibility that Kyrie is a master of the HannibalLecture and set up the entire thing.]] [[color:red:However, Battler has not killed anyone. The closest he could have possibly managed (to the extent of our knowledge) is [[DrivenToSuicide pushing Asumu past the]] DespairEventHorizon.]]*** (Respondent here.) Whoa, back up. Where was it said that Asumu committed suicide? All we know is she died, and, according to a line by Kyrie, not [[{{Yandere}} at the hand of Kyrie herself.]]**** (2nd respondent here.) Where was it said that she didn't? All we know is that [[color:red:Battler hasn't killed anyone]], [[color:blue:but until this WMG is {{Jossed}}, we do not know that he has not caused anyone's death. Fine distinctions and all that.]]***** (Respondent here.) Hmph, plausible. [[color:blue:I propose that Asumu died of natural causes, and was not killed by anyone's hand, be it [[{{Yandere}} Kyrie's]], [[MurderTheHypotenuse Rudolf's]], [[DespairEventHorizon Battler's]], or [[DrivenToSuicide her own]]!]]****** (OP here) Kihihihihi, you've got to admit, it's certainly an interesting piece of information for Ryukishi to have... forgotten to elaborate thus far. And yeah, this theory's been {{Jossed}} in part for a while now. [[color:red:The Hinamizawa Syndrome line was really just me implying that the theory's farfetched]], but let's wait and see where it goes. I'm still expecting there to be some sort of complication about her death we haven't heard about yet.

[[WMG: Kinzo is [[MyOwnGrampa Battler]].]] He was supposedly about Battler's age when he first met Beatrice, and "miraculously" brought the Ushiromiya Family BackFromTheBrink. What easier way to create a miracle than knowing everything in advance?!* I once thought this, too, but Kinzo has six toes on each foot, and as far as we know, Battler doesn't.* Dude could have fifty toes down there. Schroedinger's loafer.* Both became mad magicians after Beato died. Both made a new Beato and tried to turn her into the one they wanted. Both became the unexpected successor to their family fortune (Episode 5 anyway). Both have no real talent for magic and have insane amounts of magic resistance.

[[WMG: Kinzo is Maria.]]The eccentricity, the occult fascination, the ''Beatrice'' fascination... it all fits! Maria is a homonculus Kinzo transmigrated his soul into to cheat death. Maria don't have an absentee father -- she has no father at all! Heaven help the family the day she "remembers who she was".* I seriously doubt this. Sorry, but it will take more than that to convince me.

[[WMG: The Gold represents Love(The Story will end when the entire Family can get along).]]Higurashi is generally considered to be about atonement and, by extension, forgiveness. That loop ended when everyone was forgiven.

Umineko follows a similar pattern, but clearly has a different theme. That theme is likely love, therefore when the family starts loving each other, instead of bickering, the family will receive their good end. Thoughts?* Then, uh, I might be taking this too literally, but when Eva found the gold and promptly went psycho...?* Could be that I'm wrong because I haven't played the games and have less information then some, or perhaps she couldn't acknowledge the truth for some reason? I could also be wrong about what the gold represents but right about how the series ends, because I was basing the part about the gold on the first arc's epitaph, where it said that finding the gold would stop the collection of the interest on her payment or whatever.** Decided to Make the heading to this particular guess a tiny bit clearer, maybe.

[[WMG: The butterflies are responsible for the typhoon]]Think about it.Golden butterflies that can change the weather and are commanded by a single powerful entity... [[{{DiscWorld}} Sounds familiar...]]

And now we not only have an idea where the Meta-World is located (Death's Domain), but we also know what Beatrice's methods are and why she uses them (she's using headology, which relies on belief, to gain power). This would make Bernkastel and Lambdadelta The Auditors.

[[WMG: The typhoon causes a landslide at the end of every game]]This appears to happen in every game, and explains several mysteries:

In Episode 1, this is what kills the cousins in the end, and does so in a way that makes finding bodies extremely difficult.

In Episode 2, this is what Rosa and Maria are running from in the final scene. If you watch the entire banquet scene with this in mind (and assuming the UnreliableNarrator bases scenes on reality), it makes a lot of sense.

In Episode 3, Eva survives the landslide by being in the hidden mansion at the time (although this is only confirmed in Episode 4)

In Episode 4, this explains quite a few things, and is indeed quite strongly hinted. The reason the police could find no evidence, and closed the case as an accident? Well, if the mansion and the surrounding areas were flattened by a huge landslide they would be unlikely to find any bodies, and thus no evidence of any homicides!

Again in Episode 4, when Ange travels to Rokkenjima, she could not reach the mansion due to what appeared to be a landslide.In game this is said to have possibly occured over the years since the original events occured, but...

Finally in Episode 4 again, the "final challenge" put to Battler regarding who killed him in the end, despite no other humans being left? The landslide did it.* Then why is there a murder mystery at all (Wasn't the case referred to as the 'Rokkenjima Mass Murder Incident' or something of the sort)? Wouldn't the police chalk up all of the deaths to the landslide? After all, it would have had to be pretty obvious right after the fact if Ange could have noticed it twelve years after.** Probably because of the "note" in a bottle (stated to be more like a novel) that describes what happened at the island. The police probably declared it straight away as an accident, but the finding of the notes in the bottle (seen at the end of Episode 1, confirmed again in Episode 4) probably started a large amount of media speculation. Interestingly enought, Episode 4 mentions that there were more than one, each totally different, and that the writer of the TIPS section in the visual novels is implied to be the writer of these notes...** It's not like ALL the bodies were lost in the landslide. They probably managed to find some, but not all. (It's said in the game, actually...)and while some could be damaged by the landslide, you could probably say by the rest that there was a murder. (no, Kinzo was trying to make some burgers and burned himself by accident, cool story bro. or maybe it was a burning landslide of fire? after all due to devil's proof we can't say there's no volcano somewhere in the garden!) And, damn, it would have to be one huge landslide to destroy the whole mansion. It's not like they were living under mount everest. Also, the lost bodies usually die by the portrait or in the garden, suggesting there's something wrong with this specific area. I believe it's one of the best theories so far.**** What's so far-fetched about it being a burger accident? [[TheSims Sims]] kill themselves while making burgers all the time! What if the entire adventure is just a Sims game that Maxis thought was too questionable to be released? Admit it, you didn't think of that possibility. Everything occurs on an island because until recently, you couldn't move sims off their property! All of the witches are friends who managed to get their hands on an unreleased copy! Meta-Battler is a glitch in the program! The entire series is just a giant commentary on the sadism of players of TheSims! I think I just cracked the code!*** A landslide could destroy the entire mansion, if the mansion isn't under it but on top of it... Remember they have to go up stairs to get to the mansion. Enough digging underground to create the tunnel to Kuwadorian, plus 30 years of typhoons, plus a freeze-unfreeze cycle in winter, and the ground underneath loosens enough to send the whole mansion tumbling right into the sea.

* (Possibly?) contradicted by Episode 6. In the TIPS at the end of [=EP6=], a "Rokkenjima Explosion Incident" is mentioned (in Human Erika Furudo's "dead" text)

[[WMG:At the end of [=EP4=], We have all been fooled by a simple play of words.]]We all remember that epic red text.

"[[color:red:My name is Ushiromiya Battler. It was from Ushiromiya Asumu that Ushiromiya Battler was born. It was from Ushiromiya]], ......, ......nguh, ............?! ......?!?! [[color:red:I am Ushiromiya Battler. It was from Ushiro]]miya Asumu that, ah, ngagh, ......nnnggghh......!!!"

"[[color:red:You are not Ushiromiya Asumu's son!]]"

Apparently, this MindScrew fuel has given birth to many theories, including Battler secretly beeing Kyrie's son. Nearly everone believes that in fact there were originally two Battlers. Except this troper, who shall present the following theory:

It is true that Kyrie had a miscarriage. There was born only one Ushiromiya Battler - Asumu's son. However, Battler was not born from Asumu.

How come? We already know that Meta-Battler and Game-Board Battler aren't the same person. He actually pulls the same trick as Rika - splitting into a real-world and witch/meta self. Thus, he couldn't repeat it in red because it was adressed to the wrong person.

"It was from Ushiromiya Battler that BATTLER was born."

This should be the statement. So the truth can be THIS simple. Pukukukukuku...!

...unless it got {{Jossed}}/[[IKnewIt confirmed]] in [=EP5=] already, and i just didn't get as far in the game yet. * But didn't he manage to say in red in [=EP4=] that Ange was his sister? How did he do that, in that case?** But isn't she still his sister as long as they both are Rudolf's kids? Plus, we can go by the theory that she's his sister as long as he considers her one. Same goes for Asumu - he could say "Asumu is my mom" in red, because it's a different thing from "beeing born from her". There are actually things morer dagerous for my theory, like [[spoiler:Rudolf wanting to talk to Battler "about his birth" (?? this troper fails at moonspeak, so she may have got things wrong.) in [=EP5=]]]. Then again, the fact that Kyrie and Battler don't seem to know anything bugs this troper a lot.

[[WMG:Kanon's real name is Kagu.]]He keeps on saying "boku wa ''kagu'' des", meaning "I am just furniture" or I am Kagu. Others think that he has a furniture complex, but he's actually correcting them when they call his name.* [=EP6=] confirms that his real name is "Yoshiya".* But wouldn't it make his name Kagon? XD** Probably, probably not. Who knows?

[[WMG:Amakusa is the baby that Natsuhi wanted to adopt]]Beato stated that it would have taken a miracle for the servant and the baby to have survived falling off the cliff. Who's to say Bernkastel didn't do her thing? We never get a confirmation on his age. Maybe he's 31 and is just [[OlderThanTheyLook older than he looks?]]

[[WMG:Amakusa is related to Kyrie]]Kasumi says that she was forced to marry Kyrie's fiance after Kyrie ran off with Rudolf. Since Japanese law states that a husband and wife must share a surname, I'm assuming the name "Sumadera" is from her husband. Maybe Kyrie's maiden name is Amakusa? I mean, those three are the only humans with white hair that aren't old.* Japanese law might say that husbands and wives must share a surname, but it's not unusual for a man to take his wife's family name upon marriage, especially if the wife's family is wealthy and of higher status than his (which sounds likely with the Sumaderas) and if there is no son to carry on the family name in the wife's family. Kyrie's never mentioned anything about a brother, has she?

[[WMG:Battler may or may not [[MyOwnGrampa be Kinzo]], but meta-Battler is Goldsmith]]We don't know much about Goldsmith at this time. What we do know is that he is able to summon Beatrice's furniture - Virgilia, Ronove, Gaap, and the Siestas. The only one Battler isn't allied with right now is the Siestas, but they've always been kind of odd as far as furniture goes, and seemed to be closer affiliated with Maria than Beatrice. Wanna bet they'll switch sides again and join Battler in the end? Here are some other thoughts: He'll choose the name Goldsmith based on Kinzo's nickname. Kinzo was a mere Anglophile and never actually had any real magic power. And if anyone's noticed what this means, I'm perfectly aware. I think eventually, Battler's going to have to go up against [[FaceHeelTurn meta-Battler]], who will eventually be turned toward trying to revive Beatrice at all costs.* Technically speaking, Siestas are furniture of Mariage Sorceriee, so they already are on Battler's side, he just has to summon them. As for the theory itself, it's interesting, and possible, but it goes against the 07th Knox Rule, and it's overdone in general - just doesn't sound like Ryuukishi to me. Than again, nobody said that Goldsmith is the killer... If we are to view it from anti-fantasy side, all he did so far was just firing magic lazors and pretending he killed everybody with magic in [=EP4=]. Might as well be the same as Beato. But then again Battler being Goldsmith wouldn't change much in that case.

[[WMG: The reason Beatrice's personality changes every game is because she reflects a different culprit each time]]The magic characters are reflections of the human characters. This is a pretty basic assumption, but let's develop it a bit further. That Ronove and Virgilia are equivalent to Genji and Kumasawa is pretty obvious by the later games, but who does Beatrice represent? The murderer? If so, then at least some of her capriciousness should be due to the different culprits in every game (assuming not everything is organized by a single mastermind, that is).

And as a further corollary, if this is true it should be possible to guess who the human culprit is in a particular chapter by seeing whose dialogue best matches up with Beatrice. For example, in Episode 5, Hideyoshi brings up the Three Kingdoms, a motif repeatedly taken up again later by Beatrice and her minions... * Than, it would mean there is no culprit in [=EP5=]. Or rather, "culprit" in this theory only refers to the killer after the first twilight. But it's actually possible there is a separate culprit for the firts twilight, so it's not a problem.** In support of this, Dialogue in later Episodes hints at the culprit in a previous one. For instance, when MARIA tortured Rosa, she (Rosa, that is) started sounding very much like Beatrice in Turn/beginning of Banquet. My guess is that Rosa was the "Mastermind" of Turn, and started in Banquet, but had a change of heart/admitted killing the servants to Eva, who killed her, and of course just eliminated Maria as a witness.*** "Beginning of Banquet" suggests that Beatrice doesn't represent her at the end of Banquet, though. So does Beato switch who she represents there, or does she represent no one after the beginning? Or is it some third option?**** I just said, Rosa is the culprit for the Second Game, and the First Twilight of the Third Game. Beato then represents the guilt Eva feels.** Another hint perhaps is Kyrie's referencing the "North Wind And The Sun" story in the first arc. That may be a hint that she was the third arc's murderer for the first twilight.

[[WMG: Natsuhi is related to the [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Furude]] family]][[spoiler: She says that her Shinto priest family gave her to the Ushiromiya family as a "gift". And hell, we've already got a million Higurashi references, why not not another? Plus, it'd explain her hallucinations of Kinzo. She's so distraught that she's succumbed to Hinamizawa Syndrome!]]* One game she will invite 'cousin Rika' to the family conference, and Erika will freak out.* ...Wait, given that that means she had to have been in Hinamizawa at some point, and given the FridgeLogic of Meakashi/ Watanagashi... oh dear lord NO!** Don't worry if she's related to the Furude family she's probally immune to Hinamizawa Syndrome just like Rika.* Interesting. We never did find out what Natsuhi's maiden name was, did we? This could be right, but it's too soon to say.

[[WMG: Battler will deny Bernkastel]]In order to take the game back from the Voyager witches, Battler needs to take the fight directly to them. Fighting them on the gameboard isn't enough anymore, as he can only attack their pawn, Erika.

Here's what will happen: Battler and his furniture will fight against Bernkastel, Lambdadelta, Erika, and their furniture in the sea of kakera. At one point, Battler will question Bernkastel's credibility, which will then lead to an all out denial of her existence. Being a Voyager-level witch, this takes a tremendous amount of effort, more than enough to deny Beatrice, but eventually she is crippled by their arguments and in a terrible state. Just before the final blow is dealt, though, Lambdadelta steps in and cuts them a deal: Battler and crew stop denying Bernkastel's existence, and Lamdadelta will no longer allow her to interfere with the game, nor will she intervene in any way herself. This is eventually considered fair, and the board is restored before the final game is set up.

If nothing else, there needs to be a kakera fight at some point.* Can Battler do that? The one time he was in the sea of kakera, wasn't it due to Bernkastel's magic? Even if Battler could, how could Ronove et al?** Well, he did read a book called "Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni". Maybe he'll remember that and could create a problem for Bern by saying [[color:red: Someone named Bernkastel is in a book of fiction called Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni!]] [[color:blue:You just happened to read it and thought it'd be a great idea to dress up like her!]] . And that's just a furniture-level argument.** Didn't he slip into the sea of kakera again during [=EP5=] TeaParty ?? And he seemed to do it on his own. Also, voyager witches obviously can bring others into the sea, so if Battler could drag himself there, he can as well take his crew with him. Plus, This Troper doesn't think they need to leave the kakera to begin with...

[[WMG: Maria is the only witch in Umineko.]]It's been suggested that Maria is a creator witch, so why couldn't she create other witches?* Possible evidence: In the manga, Maria's notebook has drawings of Beatrice (not too surprising), but also of Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, [[http://www.onemanga.com/Umineko_no_Naku_Koro_ni/4/16/ well before they appeared in the story]].

[[WMG: Seven Parents, Seven Stakes]]There are seven Stakes of Purgatory. There are also seven parents on the island. Now, the stakes (but not the girls) exist in anti-fantasy, so someone has to have each stake coming in. I'm thinking the parents either have them coming on the boat, or get them quickly on the island. Following their attitudes: Krauss has Sloth, Natsuhi has Pride, Eva has Greed, Hideyoshi has Gluttony, Rudolf has Lust, Kyrie has Envy, and Rosa has Wrath.

This probably wouldn't help with finding the killer (kill the parent, take the stake), and each of them having the exact stake would be more of an ass-pull and push it back into fantasy.* Or: Krauss is Greed, Natsuhi is Sloth, and Eva is Pride.* While I wouldn't be surprised if I got Natsuhi or Eva wrong, I'd be surprised if Krauss wasn't Sloth. It has been said (at TheOtherWiki, so grain of salt and all that) that "He is an investor, but is unable to carry his plans out to the end, resulting in failures." That strikes me as Sloth. Of course, it could be a smokescreen anyway.* I have a similar idea, but with a difference:In order of rank, it suddenly becomes much clearer. Lucifer tries to assert herself as the oldest, but ends up tormented by the younger ones(That sure sucks, eh, KRAUSS?). Leviathan of envy(Do I really need to spell it out?) Satan of wrath(I think it was said Rudolf had a temper...) Belphegor of Sloth(Rosa is seen as a little bit "easygoing" with regards to family affairs...) Mammon of Greed(George? A bit odd, but it works. The more likely suspect would be Battler, since Ange gets along so well with Mammon.) Beelzebub of Gluttony(Jessica, since maybe wanting Kanon is asking for too much), Asmodeus of Lust(Maria, possibly. Or Ange? Thinking about the "Kid" stakes, maybe a few of them share Stake space...).** In that case, Jessica might be Lust, not Gluttony. Gluttony usually has to do with over-consumption, rather than too much desire. Desire tends to fall into Lust and Envy. Not sure if that helps. Hope so.* Well, if we take Battler out of the running, it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Going by the stakes' personalities and not by what they're supposed to represent, Gluttony fits Jessica for the most part. Plus, Gaap said in [=EP5=] that she was Jessica's mother, or at least Natsuhi imagined it, explaining the drill hair.

[[WMG: Umineko = CodeGeass]]Umineko no Naku Koro ni takes place entirely in the universe of Code Geass. This would explain the names being mostly European even though the series takes place in Japan (excuse me, Area 11). That's really about it. I mean look at the costumes, they look Britannian.* Both involve immortal witches who are served by a man who proclaims himself to be a demon and invoke chess symbolism.* [[color:red:In the CodeGeass universe, Japan was not occupied until the Twenty-first century.]] Also, in [=EP1=] there is reference to the KoreanWar. [[color:red: If The Royal family of the Britannian Empire fled to America, The KoreanWar sure as hell wouldn't have occured, as the attack on Pearl Harbor never happened.]] (The Japanese would have had no reason to attack Pearl Harbor, as Britannia would've already been involved in WorldWarII if there was one at all, there would have been no reason to try and prevent America (which doesn't exist here.) from entering the war!) [[color:red: No Pearl Harbor, No [=MacArthur=]. No [=MacArthur=], no KoreanWar. No KoreanWar, no war funds. No war funds, no fortune. No fortune, NO PLOT!]]** You forgot to add that [[color:red:the American Revolutio[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAmericanRevolution n]] never happened, either.]]** [[color:red:The fact that TheKoreanWar as we know it did not occur does not mean that there ''couldn't'' be a war in Korea involving Britannia.]] [[color:blue:If such a war took place, it would still be called the Korean War, because]] [[CaptainObvious it would be a war taking place in Korea.]]

[[WMG: We see things the way Beatrice wants us to see them.]]The premise of the series is that the murders could be caused by magic or mundane tools. So why all the blatantly supernatural stuff? Beatrice is somehow able to manipulate the viewer (and, presumably, Battler) into viewing only her version of events in order to confuse everyone into submission. We can be certain that the murders are happening and of the causes of death (e.g., Dr. Nanjo and Kumasawa getting their throats slit in the second arc), but everything else is suspect.** As someone who's played the game, yeah, that's pretty much how it works. If Battler didn't view it and it's not a red truth, don't trust it - there are even some scenes not viewed by Battler where no supernatural stuff occurs, but it is later revealed to be fake.*** I thought he was seeing the whole thing going on. Does he only see the scenes where he pops up to argue with Beatrice?**** Available evidence suggests that Meta-Battler doesn't see everything the 'camera' sees. (For example, he had to ask questions about Jessica & Kanon's death in the second arc, which the viewer had clearly seen.)**** Meta-Battler sees everything that the Battler on Rokkenjima sees, but there's a lot that Battler misses out on, ultimately.***** No, he sees every single thing we see. He asked questions about Jessica's and Kanon's deaths because he believed that's not how they really died (since he doesn't believe in magic), thus he wants Beato to confirm some things with her Red. ****** Evidence supports he does see everything we see in [=EP3=]. After the magical Beato vs. Virgilia fight he becomes distraught again because he doesn't know how to counter it, which is when Virgilia steps in and provides him (and us) with the Schrodinger's Box perspective. He has to ask for specifics on certain incidents because it's all still being seen exactly how we see it...tinted by Beato's magic-colored glasses.

[[WMG: The note that Jessica found was actually meant for Battler.]]Battler follows a line of reasoning in the fifth arc that ends with the idea that he is the biggest target of the murderer's, since he is the only character who makes it to the final twilight every time. Well, if we follow that line of reasoning, then the taunting note Jessica found in Beatrice's room in the second arc was probably also intended primarily for his consumption too. After all, although it didn't address anyone in particular, by discussing "your parents," there were only three people who it would have made sense for it to have been primarily addressed to - Jessica, Battler, and George. However, of the three, Battler's personality tends to be the most hot-headed, and it would have made sense for the writer of the note to have expected him to be the one to run out of the chapel and burst into Beatrice's room, not Jessica.

[[WMG: Umineko and Higurashi are all pieces of one giant puzzle]]Look at the format of the games/anime. As you play/watch through them, you learn more and more about the characters and what's going on until, at the very end, you put all the pieces together to solve the mystery. As the episodes/chapters are to the games/anime, so are the games/anime to the whole series. Higurashi, the first arc, introduced us to the set up: time loops and bizzare/inexplicable murders, with an overarching sense of horror. Umineko starts to explain the reasons for the repeating loops by introducing the witches. Presuming people keep buying/watching the stuff, 07th Expansion will keep on making them until we can put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Naturally, there will be four or eight games/anime in total. The end result will either be mindblowingly awesome or mindblowingly terrible, depending on how well the whole thing turns out, but either way everyone will come away with a massive headache from the sheer complexity of the thing.* So if it takes Ryukishi five years to finish a series, and he's going to do four or eight of them, that means the franchise will continue for twenty to forty years?** Perhaps it'd be easier if we went according to the numbers. Higurashi is When They Cry, and Kai is 2. That'd make Umineko 3 and Chiru 4. Does it still work this way?*** Yes, they do. Look at the cover of [=EP5=]. It says "When They Cry 4" after "Welcome to Rokkenjima" under the title (in kanji). [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091213081053/umineko/images/d/d1/Uminekoep5l.jpg Here's a pic of [=EP5=]'s cover.]]

[[WMG:Beatrice is [[spoiler:the seagulls]]]]And just like in [[LegendOfZelda Link's Awakening]], Meta-Battler will wake up after a crazy dream, hear the cries of the seagulls... Only to dismiss it as nothing.* Who would play the Wind Fish that soars over Link's head at the end?

[[WMG:The number of people on the island is different then suggested.]]Beatrice keeps saying the number of people who are on the island in red, but since she doesn't consider furniture as people...* [[color:red:Furniture count as people!]]* [[color:red:Beato doesn't include herself in the number of people on the island.]] [[color:blue:Thus she does not consider witches to be people.]] [[color:red:Beato considers Maria to be a witch.]][[color:blue:Thus, Maria is not counted among the people on the island.]]** I was going to discount that claim with the Red Truth that "[[color:red:There are no more than 17 people in the island of Rokkenjima]]" until I read it over again. In the nick of time, I guess, to switch over and say [[color:red:it's plausible]]. It says there are no more than 17, but not that there were no '''less'' than 17, meaning they can be at least one short (Maria is the Witch Of Origins, and is thus not counted) and still satisfy the Red Truth.*** [[color:red:Beato is not strictly "alive".]] [[color:blue:All her not counting herself means is that she doesn't consider meta-entities people, nor any "pieces" they might have that have no reason to be on the island from an Anti-Fantasy perspective.]]

[[WMG:The story isn't a mystery.]]One of Dine's commandments states that there "must not be a love interest". Normally, I would think that I was being silly and looking at things from a shipper's point of view, but even if Battler doesn't reciprocate her feelings, Beato certainly seems to like him. The feeling doesn't have to be mutual for a love interest to become a love interest. Therefore, that rule has been broken, and the story can no longer be referred to as a mystery. If we say that the commandments simply don't apply, then it still can't be referred to as a mystery. Therefore, it is not a mystery-- but that doesn't necessarily confirm the existence of witches. What does this leave us with? Anti-Fantasy With A Witch and Pro-Fantasy With A Witch?* But what if the supposed "Attraction" is just a mother loving her son? Beato would be about Eva's age in 1986, assuming Rosa just mistook her for dead, similar to most of the corpses in [=EP5=]. Maybe she survived, had Battler, and Kinzo just handed him out to whoever would take him as their "Grandson". Natsuhi didn't want him, Kinzo just sent him off to Asumu, and she just happened to want Battler because she had a miscarriage. The reason Beato didn't want to say that in red was because she didn't want to hurt Battler any more.** Beatrice seems to have a sexual attraction to him, it doesn't really look like mother's love, does it? Just remember the balcony scene from [=EP4=] - sorry, but the things she says don't sound very motherly.*** She's crazy. Simple as that.* Dine commandmets were never mentioned in the game so far, and they don't really define what a mystery is. Most of them are basically extended Knox rules, and the 3rd one wasn't the only one broken there. (16th for example.) * If you want to look at it from another angle, Red Colored Text is really screwy and relies on ExactWords and FromACertainPointOfView. In [=EP5=], [[spoiler:Dlanor starts spouting Knox commandments like crazy to counter some of Battler's arguments, but she never says 'This is a mystery that obeys the Knox commandments.' in red. Unless Battler can get that confirmation, Erika can keep using Mystery to make up whatever truth seems most convinient. ]] This is VERY heavily implied in the part of the Anti-Fantasy vs. Anti-Mystery TIPS where it seems as if Beatrice is mocking the reader for thinking that she's "playing fair". Taken further, the murders are being made to look like a genuine Mystery and a Fantasy by the real culprit. Only the dual blades of red Anti-Mystery and blue Anti-Fantasy can destroy the sick game on Rokkenjima and free Battler.* Long before then, the rule that states "No supernatural occurrences must figure into the mystery" would have been broken the moment the Meta-World was introduced, yet it is still treated as a mystery. That's because events in the Meta-World do not directly impact the mystery in the real world, so Beatrice and Battler's relationship can be seen as existing outside the actual mystery.* You're all forgetting something. [[color:red:There are mysteries that obey neither Knox's nor Dine's rules.]]

[[WMG:Beatrice is the personification of Maria's rose]]I mean, come on, why else would a sadist be represented by glowing [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth butterflies]]?

[[WMG:Battler's sin corresponds to one of the Seven Deadly Sins]]And if all the shipteasing in the Stakes Valentines' Day is any indication, it's [[spoiler:pride]]

[[WMG: Love is what motivates the killer]]"[[ArcWords Without love, it cannot be seen]]". In other words, without love, you can't see the truth about why the murders are happening. And if the murders are happening [[spoiler:because of Battler's "sin"]], there's a good bet that the killer is motivated by their love for Battler. LoveMakesYouEvil, after all. This cuts the suspect list down a bit. The suspect is someone who we know loves Battler or someone who might love him (romantic or otherwise): Rudolf, Kyrie, [[KissingCousins Jessica]], Shannon, or Kanon (assuming he's a SweetPollyOliver).* Or Kanon is gay and/or doing it on behalf of Shannon's love so Onee-san doesn't get her own hands or conscience dirty.** Well, at one point in EP 5, Battler ''does'' admit that [[spoiler:he sometimes goes out with other guys and that his first love was "that sort of thing."]]. So maybe the Shkanon theory isn't dead yet.*** That must have been a mistranslation, because in the official translation, it is never mentioned that he [[spoiler:went out with other guys]]. "That sort of thing" referred to him never confessing his love for his first crush.

[[WMG: The Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy thing is just a red herring.]]The definition given for anti-fantasy is that magic, witches, etc. don't exist, the definition of anti-mystery is that there is not enough evidence given to solve the problem is given.

If we take an anti-fantasy stance then we have to deny the red truth and then we don't have enough evidence to solve the murders. If we take an anti-mystery stance then we have to assume we don't have enough evidence to solve the murders, but magic has known rules and we'd be able to solve the crimes with those. In other words, any anti-fantasy stance is also an anti-mystery stance and vice-versa.

* We are also told that to see the truth, you need to see it from both standpoints.

[[WMG: Battler is Gay, or at least Bi]]->"''I've gone out with guys before; my first love was that sort of thing, ihihihihihi!''"

So it's pretty much a confirmed fact that Battler is at the very least bisexual, if not a full on queer-o-secksual. The obvious implication of this is that his fondling of breasts is all an ACT due to heteronormative society, supported by the fact that most of his targets are, you know, his cousins, and has said that if a girl ever actually let him go that far, he'd scold her. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; think about what this could mean for the events of Rokkenjima as a whole. He's also claimed Shannon was his first crush, so either that was a lie or Shkannon is correct, and Meta-Battler knows this. This could mean that Battler's "sin" was Denying his homosexual urges and feelings, and thus pushing them onto "Shannon", effectively denying his relationship with Kanon (Don't tell me there wasn't this total vibe with the fertilizer scene).

So with this, we can easily imagine Kanon being the killer, due to butthurt [[spoiler: over lack of actual butthurt, hur hur]], and so the only way Battler can actually prevent the murders and save everyone is to acknowledge his real feelings and emotions, and Come out of the closet. So then, we can presume that Meta-World is a sort of Freudian dream, then, as everything that happens is effectively pushing him to reveal the truth he himself suppressed. Beatrice? Well, like Kinzo's, she's a personification of Battler's "ideal woman", [[spoiler: Except he doesn't actually have one. He just copied Grandpa Kinzo's interests so that he had something to fall back on when asked what he was attracted to. It's the CanadianGirlfriend excuse.]] Beatrice knows this, and being the part of him that wants Battler to find out the truth, wants to die, as that's the ultimate result of dispelling his self-deception. Beatrice, like magic, is just a delusion created to hide the wounds of the heart. It's already very clear as of Episode 4 that this isn't a battle between Reason and Magic, but a battle between naive idealism versus the cruel, undesired reality.

Battler must accept who he really is, and find out it's Okay to be gay!

* So does he have the best or worst ComingOutStory ever?

[[WMG: Amakusa shot Kasumi Sumadera and her men]]In [=EP5=] Battler states in red, that there are always two side of one truth. While in Ange's point of view Kasumi was killed with magic despite circumstances, which should make this even for a witch impossible in a human's point of view she and her men was snipped by Amakusa, whose TIPs even state that he was trained as counter sniper! Too bad, he failed to save Ange from getting shot.* Or he shot Ange on purpose.** [=EP6=]'s Tea Party has Amakusa talking on the phone with Okonogi, and a rather strong implication that Amakusa has got a sniper rifle, and has been ordered to finish off Kasumi and her goons at Rokkenjima...AND kill Ange as her attitude makes her a liability. (Puzzlingly, Okonogi says it's "For world peace".)

[[WMG: The Pony Theory]]The pony theory is based on 12 year old Battler, and Beato (disguised as Shannon, who wasn't present that day) meeting him. Battler manages to impress Beato to the point that she falls for him, and promises that he'll come back on a white horse (THAT GODDAMN PONY) to take her away. Beato looks foward to this the next year that Battler comes with his family so that she can escape servitude on Rokkenjima, but Battler never comes. 6 years later, Battler finally returns, having completely forgotten his promise. This is the root of his sin, and why the tragedies on Rokkenjima take place...there's some image that describes it much better, but I'm not bothering to find it.* [[http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7820/1251670168057.jpg This what you're looking for?]]* [[color:red:The sin I am now demanding that you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice.]]** This could be referring to Beatrice, the ''title'', not Beatrice the ''person''. Virgilia's appearence makes it clear that [[color:red:'Beatrice' is only a title]] in this case. So while Battler's sin was not against "Beatrice", [[color:blue:it might have been against her ''before'' she was Beatrice.]]*** (2nd respondent here.)[[hottip:* :I posted that Red Truth about Battler's sin not being against 'Beatrice']] Interesting theory. Promoted to Blue Truth for plausibility. However, [[color:blue:I propose that the 'Beatrice' mentioned in that Red Truth was referring to anyone who has ever taken that name, thus it can apply to Beato, Virgilia, even Future Ange and possibly EVA. By this, it can be said that 'Battler Ushiromiya' did not sin against any of these, or anyone else to have ever taken the name 'Beatrice'.]]**** Red truth is not necessarily true from every possible perspective. [[strike:You're thinking of gold truth.]] [[color:blue:Unless Battler sinned against every single person who has ever been named Beatrice, the sentence ']][[color:red:the sin I am now demanding you remember is not between Battler Ushiromiya and Beatrice]][[color:blue:' could still be said in red.]]***** (2nd respondent here.) Pay attention. I was '''proposing''' that it referred to anyone known by the name 'Beatrice'. I wasn't stating that it actually did. Furthermore, [[color:red:anything said in Gold can be said in Red, but not always vice versa.]]

[[WMG: One or more of the characters has a DeathNote.]]This is all but confirmed in Umineko Hell; who's to say it might not apply to canon? Hell, maybe Beatrice herself has been controlling the deaths through the Death Note all along and is only making Battler ''think'' magic might be the cause because she's afraid of what would happen if the note fell into the hands of Battler.

[[WMG: We can't trust the red or gold.]]I'm surprised nobody's brought this up yet. Consider this: I can grab a piece of paper and say "Anything written on this paper is true." then write "I am a Chinese rebel." When somebody points out that I'm lying, I can write "Anything written on this paper is true." But that doesn't make it so. This came to me when Battler accused Beatrice of lying in the red and she used the red to state "Everything stated in red is true." Now some people might maintain that Ronove and others use and insist on the legitimacy of the red. Well getting back to the paper scenario, I could quite easily get a bunch of my friends to act out what I write on the paper and insist that it works. So with everyone convinced the thing works and Beatrice (possibly the only one who knows it's all bull) gone, nobody wants to risk lying with it because they're afraid of vanishing in a poof of logic. It's like selling your soul to the devil just to see if you'll go to hell, even if the writers of the Bible lied... do you really want to take the chance?* Except you explicitly can't say untrue things in red. Anyone who tried to force a red statement with an untrue statement choked before they finished. So it doesn't work like that.** There's a couple reasons we know that the red truth is telling the truth. Episode 5 ultimately shows that [[spoiler: Beatrice wants Battler to solve the mystery]] so there's no reason to lie and make up random things. Furthermore, the author has also stated in interviews that it is possible to solve the mystery after Episode 4, something which would frankly be completely impossible without them due to the large number of fake scenes.

[[WMG: Battler was named after the Tarot Motif for the Magician "Le Bateleur"]]because i can't find any justification to as why Ryuukishi would name his Protagonist "Battler". He is a bumbling idiot which would fit some of him to the tarot... so yeah.

[[WMG: Bernkastel created Lambdadelta]]Bernkastel is more or less explained - she's the amalgam of [[spoiler: every Rika who died, barring the 'successful' one]]. This meshes well with that line from Higurashi Rei, where she said she'd stop being the witch - so when that one [[spoiler: died]], she wasn't added to the mix. You can imagine Bernkastel finding herself alone in the countless kakera, finding her torment to be over for some reason. Wondering if she beat her adversary, or if they just got bored. Well, she's a great witch, so her tormentor can't have been a mere mortal - it must have been another witch! And she can just barely recall the face of [[spoiler: Miyo]]...so Bernkastel's own pride gave birth to her 'witch' tormentor.* [[NoJustNo No.]] It's the other way around. Lambdadelta looks more like the young Takano from the epilogue scene. There's an extra TIPS passage that is Lambdadelta's diary. She existed long before the events of Hinamizawa, being very fickle about her magic. She would only let mortals use her Magic of Certainty if they possessed enough of a drive to accomplish their goals. It functioned so that as long as you were determined, you could never fail. She ran across Takano as a little girl, and Takano wished to become like a God. Lambda granted this wish, and went on her merry way. When Takano grew up, she was able to fulfill her goals with the help of the Magic of Certainty. Hanyuu used her powers to transfer Rika across the Sea of Kakera every time she died in order to try and stop the destruction of her town from occurring. The remnants of Rika that didn't make it (anger, cynicism, and hate) formed together among the Sea and formed Bernkastel. Lambda discovered Bern and decided to imprison her because she apparently fell in love with her the minute they met.** Yes, but how do we know we can take Lambda's testimony on this seriously? She might have fabricated memories to go with the story. After all, it's highly suspicious that she looks just like Takano, and yet has no more connection to her beyond granting a wish.** Because everyone who knows Lambda has said that she has been around for a very long time. Bern was trapped by Lambda. She wouldn't force something like that upon herself, and only escaped due to a miracle. When Lambda was brought into the Rokkenjima game (or at least found), Bern wasn't too happy about that.** That proves nothing. Has anyone ever said in the red that Lambda has been around for a long time? They say Bernkastel is over 1000 years old, so the timeline doesn't serve as an argument either. Bern, whom was formerly an aspect of Furude Rika's, was trapped by the inevitability of her situation, created by the will of Takano, escaping with her miracle. It was after this when Bernkastel personified fate as a witch like herself: Lambdadelta is retconned into the universe.** Another bit supporting this theory would be that we know that it was [[spoiler:Hanyu]] not lambda that was behind [[spoiler:the time-loop/parallel world traveling in Higurashi]], so it is unlikely that it could really have been "Lambda's game" the way it is referred to in Umineko.*** [[color:red: While it is [[spoiler:Hanyuu (and do we really need to spoil this?)]] who allowed for the game in Higurashi to happen, it was Lambda's piece who caused the events of the game.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Higurashi can be called "Lambda's game".]]

[[WMG: Red Truth is subjective truth]]It's been stated a few times that truth can be different depending on the observer. Maybe red truth is for things that the speaker believes without a doubt to be true. No one could make a claim to Battler's heritage, because they were so uncertain about it.* Battler believed, without a doubt, that his heritage was what he thought it was. It was only until the Red Truth failed to work for it that he doubted it at all. Not only that, but the Red Truth is something that is absolutely, undeniably true.** It's really an issue with the choice of words.

[[WMG: The Red Truth denies the ability to use magic to do things!]]Many times, Beatrice has said 'this must be done a certain way' in red truth. However, she then says in white text, that magic can bypass such a thing. For instance "This door can be opened only by a key" is red truth. But as a white text. "I could have used magic." However...[[strike:RED TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH!]] As such, this door could NOT be opened by magic!* You're forgetting, the Red Truth is subjective, only true FromACertainPointOfView. [[color:red:The Red Truths you're referring to regard the physical means of opening the door. Therefore, the idea of using magic to open the door has not been denied by the Red Truth!]]* While a door may only be opened with a key, Beato could lift a key off someone with magic, duplicate and subsequently destroy other keys, alter a key to a different door to fit this lock...

[[WMG: Beatrice and Kinzo are going to be married in that chapel]]If it has not occurred in current episodes, that is, it will happen...either at the end, when Beatrice and Kinzo become 'good'...or earlier. If it happens earlier, things will get VERY BAD.* Looks more like Beato and Battler currently, unless something changes. Rumor is Beato marries Battler near the end.

[[WMG: The phones actually worked all through the first arc]]All through the first three arcs, the phones and radio were supposedly cut. But the only ones who witnessed that firsthand were Genji and Kanon, who informed everyone else. In the first arc in particular, whoever called from the final twilights had to use the phone. That was one of the mysteries - why the phones had stopped working and now were all of a sudden working again. But in the fourth arc, the phones worked the entire time. It's possible that Genji and Kanon were in on the murders and simply told everyone that the phones weren't working. In other words, the reason the phones were working at the end of the first arc is simply because they had always been working.* Not quite. In Episode 4, we learn that the phones will work if you wish to call someone else on the island, but according to Genji and Kanon, they won't work if you try to call someone not on the island like the police. Consequently, if this holds in all 4 episodes, then the culprit of the final murders can call Battler's group without making Genji and Kanon liars.** Actually, in the first arc, Genji and Kanon also say the extension phone line (the one that can call the other phones on the island) is broken as well. This is why Genji goes directly to Natsuhi first thing in the morning rather than calling, which due to Genji's personality he would most certainly also do. However it's possible that this was also a lie and that the extension phones were working all along, and only the outside lines were cut for real - both in [=EP1=] and [=EP4=], an attempt to call the police IS made (in [=EP1=] it's after Natsuhi gets the creepy call from Maria and knows the inside line is working, but she still can't get through to the outside; in [=EP4=], before he calls Jessica, Krauss attempts to call the police, to no avail).

[[WMG: The beginning riddle of the epitaph points the way to a memorial for Beatrice.]]Soon after Human Beatrice, died, Kinzo turned part the mansion Kuwadorian into a memorial for his dead lover. The beginning of the epitaph points the way to this location, and the rest points out where inside it the gold is (assuming there is gold there).* Lift up the sacrifices chosen by the key: There are six keys that must be used to unlock something. These keys cannot be retrieved.* Tear apart the two who are close: Two people must go separate ways to open the next lock.* Praise my name: There is a further puzzle hidden past this point. The only way to open it somehow involves praising Kinzo.* Gouge the (insert body part) and kill: A series of traps, maybe?* The witch will revive, and none will survive: A particularly nasty trap, somehow involving a likeness of Beatrice.* The journey will end, and you will reach the village of gold: Self-explanatory.* All the gold: Ditto.* Revival of lost love: The two who went separate ways are reunited.* Revival of those slain: Anyone killed can be interred with Beatrice.* The witch will sleep forever: Beatrice is dead, and the tomb will seal once the gold is removed.

[[WMG: Kanon did die in Jessica's room in the second arc, but not physically.]]Kanon shed his identity as furniture (and the name Kanon) in her room. In other words, "Kanon" died, but "Yoshiya" survived.

[[WMG: The person who carried out the first twilight of the third arc was either Krauss or Natsuhi.]]The third arc is the only one where Kinzo was used as a sacrifice in the first twilight. He was found burnt to death, just like in the first arc, but unlike the second. Now that we have relatively confirmed that whenever Natsuhi or Krauss survives (but not when they die and Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo aurvive), his body is found burnt to destroy evidence of his earlier death. Whoever carried out the first twilights had to know that Kinzo was already dead (so they didn't kill a seventh person) and had to be willing to take the opportunity to dispose of Kinzo. We can infer that Genji, Kumasawa, and Nanjo aren't, due to the second arc. Krauss and Natsuhi appear to be the only ones who match.* Assuming that the adults were really in the conference room all night, (and this troper is inclined to believe so) there is absolutely no way that any one or even two of the adults could have committed those murders. As all of the adults were in the conference room all night, the only way any one of them could have committed the murders was to leave the room for an extensive period of time that would have been at least half an hour. However, the behaviors of the adults in the morning after seem to show that they do not suspect any of themselves, which they would have had Natsuhi or Krauss been gone for a hour or so on the night six people were killed.Furthermore, Episode 5 reveals that all the servants on the island with the exception of Gohda knew of Kinzo's death, so Nanjo also could have done it. (Though this troper is inclined to suspect George for those murders).

[[WMG: Furniture's clothing reflects their job.]]Think of badges on a military uniform--it's used to identify what part of the army a soldier belongs to, what his rank is, etc. Furniture's clothing serves the same purpose. Servant-type furniture (e.g., Ronove, Shannon, and Kanon) are expected to cover up, while soldier-types are supposed to wear much less, hence the reason why all of the killer furniture dress like strippers. Yes, I realize than Shannon, Kanon, and Ronove have offensive and/or defensive capabilities, but it's clear that under normal circumstances, their main job is to serve tea and whatnot, rather than killing people.

[[WMG: People in the Ushiromiya Family are prone to suffering [[SplitPersonality Disassociative Identity Disorder]].]]A SplitPersonality might be a way to get around some of the limitations imposed by the Red Text. If Battler suffers from [[SplitPersonality Disassociative Identity Disorder]], it could solve [=EP4=] last mystery.* It also counts for Natsuhi's conversations with Kinzo, Eva having no recollection of some of the events in [=EP3=], not to mention seeing her high school self asking why she doesn't just give up and die, Rosa being the best mom ever, et al.** [[color:red:This is plausible]], especially on Rosa's part. [[color:blue:The other self that abuses Maria is called the Black Witch, hence why Maria refers to Rosa's violent outbursts as "being possessed by the Black Witch".]]

[[WMG:Shannon is Beatrice.]]I'm surprised nobody pointed that out, as in that Shannon is the Beatrice in Eps 2 and 4 - just look at the tattoo on her leg.

Battler was drunk in Ep2, so it's pretty easy to mistake Shannon as Beatrice as long as there's a slight disguise, and he was in the rain in Ep4, so he can't possibly see Shannon's face that clearly, so it could be Shannon masquerading as Beatrice in the Balcony scene for all we know.

[[WMG:Umineko is actually a romance!]]That explains everything. Kihihihihi.* Possible hint from the first game:->'''Kyrie:'''"Fufufu, can great detectives deduce the emotions and feelings between men and women? They can't, right? Figuring out the feelings of the opposite sex is an even more advanced art than exposing the tricks in difficult crime cases. If you ask me, romance novels have much deeper mysteries than masterpiece mystery novels."

[[WMG:Battler is a restless spirit]]At the end of EP 1, despite being marked as missing, Battler has died along with the rest of his cousins. They all meet up in a place that is introduced, through the subtitles, as Purgatorio. Everybody else seems quite content with saying a witch did it, but Battler calls it a bunch of crap and wants to know what really happened. Beatrice enters, Battler challenges her, they fight it out. After this, the Purgatorio heading is never shown again, and the fans call what they play their games in the Meta-World.

Thing is, he IS in Purgatorio, better known as Purgatory, because he refuses to pass on until he knows the truth. There are the Seven Sisters of Purgatory, who we meet in EP 2, that cleanse people of their sins. Virgilia appears when he's confounded at the start of EP 3, which is obviously based on Virgil, Dante's guide through Purgatory from the DivineComedy, where Beatrice's name also comes from. Then there's Ange, who is speculated to have died at the end of EP 4's flashback to her time on Rokkenjima. She is also a restless spirit, and wants to be reunited with Battler, so she enters Purgatorio to meet him and help him solve the mystery; of equal importance is Lamdadelta revealing to her that even if she helps him solve the mystery, the Ange that reunites with Battler won't be her. The entire time, Spirit-Battler is trying to find out the murderer and give his family a happy ending. If he accomplishes this, he will be at peace, and finally enter heaven.

This, and:* Dante: Short for Durante, which means "enduring" or "lasting"* To endure, one suffers hardships and is implied to overcome them at the end* To overcome something, one must defeat or conquer something.* To defeat something is "to overcome in a contest, election, ''battle'', etc."* One who battles would be called a battler* The protagonist is named Battler[[hottip:* :(Somebody else already followed this line of logic and announced it, but I don't have the exact wording)]], and meets with Beatrice, Virgil(ia), and representations of the SevenDeadlySinsalong with the presence of furniture in the form of demons from Hell [[spoiler:except for the case of the Eiserne Jungfrau, who are supposedly from Heaven]] and people who go missing are "chewed apart by demons and sent to Hell" strongly hints, at least to this troper, that he's been DeadAllAlong and needs to be at peace before the game will truly end.** The manga suggests this might be true, though it might just be Beato [[MindScrew messing with Battler's head.]]

[[WMG:There is a subway system underneath Rokkenjima]]While I can't say how or why Kinzo had his own train, quite a few rules could be circumvented if there was an underground subway station connection to one of the other islands in the Izu archipelago or the mainland.The people who have gone missing are abducted and put on a train, possibly to be killed elsewhere.[[color:red:"There are no more than seventeen people on this island"]] was lowered from eighteen when it was declared Kinzo was dead. A train car full of fresh {{Mooks}}, possibly dressed as goat-headed butlers, was waiting ''underneath'' the island to fill in for the non-living persons and stake people.

Also, [[http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2456/eatfresh.png guess what's inside]] [[http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3088/undergroundrailroad.png the arc.nsa file?]] [[hottip:* :Yes, I know subway can also refer to a short tunnel designed for walking, but considering how often semantics are argued in this game, I think it's worth considering.]]* Finally, [[http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/84/destinationtroll.jpg here's exactly how the fourth game ended.]]** [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome That was fucking awesome.]] [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny I laughed my ass off.]]

[[WMG:Some of the twilights in EP 1 were a conspiracy to mislead the culprit]]The servants and Nanjo found Eva's body somewhere other than in her bedroom, and then went to the bedroom and found it unlocked, with Hideyoshi dead inside. They realized that the murderer was following the epitaph, so they tried to [[XanatosGambit psych out the culprit]] by making it look like another murderer was on the loose. They moved Eva's body into the room, painted the magic circle on the door with red paint, and staked both of the corpses to make it look ritualistic. Then they left a letter from "Beatrice" for the third twilight, and burned and staked Kinzo's corpse for the fourth. For the fifth twilight, Nanjo, Kanon, and Kumasawa hatched a plan to [[FakingTheDead fake Kanon's death]] using another stake and the red paint for blood so he could hunt the murderer. Once the planning and setup was complete, Genji went back to the parlor and [[UnreliableNarrator lied to the other survivors]] that Eva and Hideyoshi had been found in a locked room in order to kick off the deception.

This totally circumvents the issue of the chain on Eva's door and explains why Eva's corpse still had shoes on, the appearance of all magic elements, and the burning of Kinzo's corpse. It also evades the mess of red surrounding Kanon's supposed death.

[[WMG: Shannon is the real mastermind behind everything. Because she's in love with BATTLER.]]This theory is a hearty combination of the Shkannon theory, the Pony Theory and the George and Shannon are not in love theory.

The culprits can be others manipulated by Shannon, but I have a feeling that Shannon's gonna be Umineko's Takano. She's just waaaay too 'innocent', and she almost always 'dies' near the beginning. I believe that she's actually not in love with George, but George is the one with an obsessive love towards her like Kinzo is towards Beatrice. Thus, Shannon feels a strong link between herself and Beatrice. Have you ever noticed how George and Shannon were never chosen as sacrifices for the second twilight? Ever noticed how Battler never sees Shannon talk about her love for George, only George to Shannon? Shannon fell in love with Battler 6 years ago, because of that "white horse" line. Thus, in Episode 2, when Shannon apparently keeps hoping that George would 'save her', she was actually wishing for Battler to save her (on a white horse). And Eva actually didn't object to George's feelings for Shannon. She wanted George to be happy, and was annoyed when Shannon shows dislike for George, and what she whispered to Shannon was actually about how she doesn't have a choice whether to marry George or not. That turned Shannon twisted. Thus, she remembers her strong link with Beatrice, and wishes to make herself known as the new "Beatrice" of Rokkenjima.

In Episode 1, she first kills the 5 adults and fakes her own death, also returning to key to throw suspicion on the remaining servants. She escapes the storage house as she might've conspired with Natsuhi. She then captures Kanon and locks him up in the boiler room and takes his place (her breasts are fake). She might've conspired with Gohda, who hid under Eva and Hideyoshi's bed and killed them there. Shannon as Kanon drew the magic circle on the door and slotted the letter, and pretended to go get the wirecutter and told Genji it appeared only after she came back from getting the wirecutter.

When Kanon (Shannon) and Kumasawa went to the boiler room and heard a slam, Kanon (Shannon) immediately ran there, knowing that it could very well be the real Kanon escaping. She goes there and kills him for real before fleeing into the courtyard, which is why the door was left open. She hides in Kinzo's study and puts the letter there when no one was watching, and kills the people who were chased out. When the rest were questioning Maria, Shannon sends a letter in secret to Natsuhi, probably with some more conditions of their alliance, which for some reason outrages her, causing her to go out and confront Shannon. Gohda and Shannon, however, overwhelm her. At the very end, when the children are confronting Beatrice, Shannon reveals herself and kills the kids. What she did to threaten Battler later was unknown, but she might or might not have killed him as well.

I'll post the Shannon=culprit theory about the other episodes later. * It's child's play to discount that red. The red said, [[color:red: The identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed. No body double tricks were possible.]] Sure, but if ''there isn't a body there to begin with'' then there's no unidentified corpse, and no need for a body double trick. The only people who saw Shannon's body were Kanon and Hideyoshi, both of whom she could have convinced to go along with it. When the murders continued; Eva, Hideyoshi, and Kanon were the next three victims, if Shannon was the culprit in the first arc and they covered up her continued well-being then she has a very noticeable motive in killing them before continuing the murders, because she would be the first suspect any of them would think of when someone turned up dead while everyone else had alibis.** Actually, this is not eve needed. "[[color:red: The identities of all unidentified corpses are guaranteed. No body double tricks were possible]]" can be ignored even if there ''is'' a "corpse" there. After all, it was never said that they were dead nor have anyone came back to chek if the bodys were still there, thus it is possible Shannon just pretended being dead and going out latter. She would need an accomplice to open the shutter for her, tough. Probably Kanon or even George (see below).

[[WMG: Shannon is the real mastermind behind everything and George]]Related to above. Only that George is Shannon's accomplice. She convinced him that the only way to them get married is to exterminating the Ushiromiya family. She natturaly killed him herself latter.

[[WMG: Kanon isn't Shannon, but he is [[SamusIsAGirl a girl.]]]]Kanon is relatively feminine, and despite being old enough to have hit puberty, he's still voiced a girl in the anime. She is dressing as a boy because she was [[RapeAsBackstory sexually abused in her childhood]], also because [[{{Pettanko}} she can]] [[{{Bifauxnen}} pull it off.]]

[[WMG: The people to whom the letters Ange found in 1998 were addressed were accomplices.]]The culprit contacted them and gave them an option to help him/her and receive a large sum of money, but didn't tell them the full extent of the plan. The culprit sent the letters addressing them towards the accomplices but also to a nonexistent address, so that when it returned the accomplice (or their next of kin) would receive the payment. The culprit did this knowing that there was a chance s/he wouldn't make it back to make the payment personally.* Can't be. Ange received a letter herself, and literally every surviving family member of the victims, save for Eva, received a letter. They couldn't all be accomplices.* The letters were addressed to Nanjo, Kumasawa, and Rudolf. The survivors were listed as the senders of those letters. * With the implication that way more than those three received letters, considering how many faults there were that belonged to the mysterious sender. Unless literally everyone on Rokkenjima was an accomplice, the idea doesn't work.* Not all of the accomplices would need to go to Rokkenjima. It's entirely possible that the culprit also had need of assistance from people who never needed to go to the island at all. Just because there wasn't an 18th person on the island doesn't mean there weren't X number of accomplices arranging details so that their benefactor could pull of his/her plan.** This still requires there to be literally dozens or even hundreds of accomplices for only 17 murders, and that all of these accomplices were apparently relatives. Sorry, but this is even more of a stretch than small bombs.** I don't believe there is any reason to believe that there would be that many accomplices, there were hundreds of safety deposit boxes, but only the ones with green lights belonged to the culprits account, and I don't recall there being any mention of how many there were of those.*** The green lights referred only to the specific boxes that could be opened by a specific key, and the keys each opened different boxes.

[[WMG: Kinzo was completely evil, everyone else was deformed by him.]]Kinzo made his money by giving his good family name to Yakuza schemes. That wasn't enough for his power hunger, so he tried using his children to make his family even more powerful while keeping a line of sex slaves (always nicknamed Beatrice because of his fascination with Western stuff) in the Kuwadorian. This deformed his children, which in turn influenced his grandchildren as well.

But Kinzo probably didn't stop there: after Hime-Beatrice (Beato) died, he looked for a new victim, and found it in Rosa who was guilt-ridden after Beato's death. (Ever wonder why Eva had to fight for her place in the line of inheritance while Rosa easily kept it? Because Maria is not just Kinzo's grandchild, but his daughter as well...)

Finally, after assaulting Jessica, Kinzo was killed by Krauss. When "Umineko" starts, the nightmare should be over, but Kinzo´s influence made his family distrust each other, so they start killing each other - in a different way each arc.* Wow... this actually makes sense! Kinzo assaulting Jessica... That's sort of not imaginable, though. ** Why not? She does look somewhat similar to Beatrice. Even if you don't believe that, she has blonde hair and Kinzo is known to be quite the Europhile.** I think the above troper means not imaginable [[PoisonOakEpilepticTrees in a different way than the way you understood it.]]

[[WMG: Kinzo is actually quite a nice guy]]The only scene of a not-proven-fake Kinzo was the one flashback in 'Banquet' when he went off at Eva for not being womanly enough. Which makes him kind of an asshole, but not a foaming-at-the-mouth mad warlock. It's not even a representative sample of his personality, just the one act that made the biggest impression on Eva.* [[color:red:In that flashback, it was stated that that was not a representative sample of Kinzo's personality and attitudes. In said flashback, he also went off at Krauss for laziness.]] [[color:blue:Kinzo meant to say something like "You are quite an impressive person, but unless you learn how to cook without burning water, you're not going to land a man worthy of such an impressive person, and dammit Eva, [[IWantGrandkids you're the only one in this family likely to produce a grandchild worthy of the Ushiromiya name]]", but due to both his senility and the Racist Grandpa principle, it came out sounding like StayInTheKitchen.]]** Possibly supported in [[http://img-a.onemanga.com/mangas/00004542/000260202/21.jpg this line from [=EP3=]'s manga.]]--->'''Krauss (to Eva, after Kinzo's outburst):''' ''Eva, take your leave. It's not his true feelings. I'll calm him down.''

[[WMG:Shannon murdered Jessica and possibly Kanon in the second arc.]]Shannon's alibi for that murder, that she was writing a will for Kinzo, is bunk, since Kinzo's dead. She and Genji have no alibi for this murder. However, she is explicitly pointed out as one of the few people Jessica would trust enough to expose her back to her (Remember, Jessica was stabbed in the back, so they pointed out that it was likely that the person who murdered her was someone she trusted). She is only dismissed on the basis of her alibi. The only hole here is that Rosa, for some reason, corroborates the alibi a few different times. The best explanation I can think of for this is that Shannon found out (or perhaps manipulated) that Rosa killed everyone on the first twilight, which is a giant assumption, but an acceptable enough theory that I'll work it in here. And later on, when Rosa found out that Kinzo was dead, Shannon blackmailed her into corroborating the whole "Kinzo's alive and I was writing his will" thing. I'm not certain what happened with Kanon, though. I can see him being either left alive in order to create the illusion of the second twilight if he was, perhaps, her accomplice, or dead and hidden somewhere else in the mansion. The first option would be useful for the next few twilights, though.* Yup, that's what I thought too. I believed that she took Kanon's body so that it could be posed as her own during the 4th twilight, while she escapes unscathed to kill the rest. Just like how in [=EP4=], Kanon's body also wasn't found yet he was confirmed dead - I think Shannon took it and disguised it as herself. * I would like to point out that [[color:blue:Shannon could well have been "working on" Kinzo's will as in ''fabricating'' it, and set things up so that things would go well for her, Rosa, and Genji.]] That doesn't rule out this possibility, though, if [[color:blue:she finished writing it earlier than she told everyone and killed another heir, Jessica, that she had included to throw off suspicion.]] I will point out, though, that Shannon cannot have disguised Kanon's corpse as herself. [[color:red:No double body tricks are possible, and the identities of all named corpses are confirmed.]]

[[WMG:Battler is actually perfectly competent and highly intelligent]]I think we can all agree that Red Text speaks the truth, but the truth might not necessarily be a fact. After all "You are incompetent" is an opinion in the truest sense, not a fact. So in Beato's point of view, Battler is incompetent but he's actually reeeaaaallllyyy competent. See, who else can think of something as case-cracking as the small bombs theory?* But the Red doesn't work that way; it doesn't allow things you simply think are true, they have to be genuinely factual. Otherwise Battler would've never had a problem with using the Red.** But an opinion can be neither purely fact nor purely fiction. Something factual, like whether Asumu's Battler's mother, can have an absolute truth too it, but something that's a judgement of an individual can't. That's where the difference lies. This person's arguing that since there can be neither a pure truth to a judgment, such things get lumped into the red, whether or not they would be judged to be true by a different person.** [[color:blue:Battler's incompetence was in how he used the Devil's Proof. The "tiny bombs" bit was perfectly valid.]] [[color:red:Seriously, "because of the Devil's Proof" isn't a magic "I don't have to explain this unlikely element" incantation.]]

[[WMG:The chapel was never locked in the second arc]]Battler wasted a bunch of time hounding Beatrice about the key in Maria's envelope after the first twilight, but he never bothered to check the most basic premise of all.

From the time Beato handed the envelope to Maria until Rosa unsealed it in the morning, the key passed through no one's hands. If the chapel was locked to begin with, the key couldn't have been used to let the victims in, and if it was initially unlocked, the key couldn't have been used to lock it after the murders. In other words, the only possibility is that the door wasn't ever locked at all.* Not actually true. The red text says that the envelope remained sealed until Rosa opened it the next day, not the next morning. Rosa could have opened the envelope at one minute past midnight on the second day or any time after that, and it wouldn't conflict with the red text, so there's plenty of time for the key to be used to lock or unlock the door.** Of course, that contradicts the scene where the adults met Beato, which happened before midnight.*** No proof that actually happened though.

There was a scene where Genji told Rosa the door was locked, but it was already open by the time Battler arrived. How do we know that scene wasn't false, or that Genji wasn't lying to Rosa?

* Also, keep in mind that Rosa is present in that chapel ''with the rest of the siblings and their spouses.'' She appears in the chapel scene, acknowledges Beatrice like the everyone else there, and wakes up the next morning in her bed. If we go by a theory on wordplay that appears further up, Rosa could have opened the key the second it became midnight, the second it became "the next day" of Beatrice's statement about the letter not being opened until the next day, used some sort of pretext to bring her siblings and their spouses into the chapel, and killed them. Maria could also have received that letter at a later point than we are told she did.

[[WMG:There is a fake Master Key.]]Beato only ever confirms that the key she gave to Maria, the key to the chapel, is genuine. The locked rooms that occur afterward in the second arc can be beaten if you claim that someone pickpocketed one of the Master Keys off of one of the servants and replaced it with a fake Master Key. One that looks similar, but wouldn't work if used on the doors. Another thing that Beato is never forced to say is that each servant has one genuine Master Key at the time of the murders. Since the fake Master Key wouldn't work if it were used, it can still be said that there are only five Master Keys.* [[color:red:There are five Master Keys, one for each servant!]]** [[color:blue:But if there is a fake Master Key that merely looks like a Master Key but doesn't work, then it cannot be called a true Master Key, now, can it?]] [[color:red:On Rokkenjima, there are, indeed, five Master Keys,]] [[color:blue:and one key that looks like a Master Key, but isn't.]]

[[WMG: Battler is the man from 19 years ago is Beatrice's child]]Ninteen years ago, Kinzo rocked up to Natushi with an infant that she was to "welcome as my grandchild". Nineteen years ago is approximately the time Rosa's Beatrice fell to her death -- Natsuhi is even kind enough to note that "Rosa was still living in the house back then."

The kid was Kinzo's child by that Beatrice, of course. There's no way the old man would allow a stranger with inferior non-Ushiromiya genes into the pinnacle of the inheritance hierarchy. A suddenly orphaned child and a childless heir was too convenient to pass up.

When he was told that the kid had died, his only response was a senile-sounding ramble about how he 'expected' that, and they had 'escaped again'. So far as Kinzo knew, the previous Beatrice also died from randomly falling from a cliff. He might have come to feel it was his 'fate' to lose every part of Beatrice that way[[hottip:* :The Original Beatrice may also have died from falling, in which case he really needs to think of putting in some safety rails.]].

The still-living child was squirreled away by Rudolf and/or Kyrie and/or Asumu as a trump card against Kinzo. A genuine illegitimate Kinzo spawn would be of great value, just so long as he never learns the truth and becomes bitter and vengeful.* Disquieting implications: if Rosa's Beatrice was the daughter of Kinzo's Beatrice, then Battler is Kinzo's son AND Kinzo's grandson. No wonder everyone and their dog is compelled to observe how much they look alike. Also, he's romancing the metatextual projection of his grandmother.* Ooh, I like this theory a lot. I guess the big question I have is "How did Battler get from cliff to Rudolf?" Was it some sort of deal that the servant struck in advance, and then the servant faked his/her own death or something?

[[WMG: Hanyuu will set Bern right in the Good Ending]]There will be hugging and crying.

[[WMG: The stakes were originally less sinister objects (oversize chess pieces?)]]They were introduced to an angle grinder and became murder weapons. Fits the series theme of innocent things being repurposed to sinister ends.%% Paperweights? Hee!

[[WMG: 'Beatrice' is the name of the smog monster from ''{{Lost}}'']]All mysteries can be explained by this.

[[WMG: The reason why the murders are so brutal, and the reason why Beatrice acts the way she does, is because the game is being played during Beatrice's time of the month.]]That explains everything! No wonder she was begging for death; who would want to be [[FateWorseThanDeath stuck in an eternal loop with a never-ending period? Or never-ending PMS for that matter?]]* That explain why the Red truth is, you know... red.

[[WMG: Bern and Lambda used to, before becoming witches, be part of the older Ushiromiya lineage.]]There's no proof for it, and yet, there's none against it. Why are they so interested in Beatrice's game? In [=EP5=], it's shown that they actually care very little for Beatrice. They're interested in the game because they want to see how the new generation of the family, that apparently rose to higher riches, handles the game!* I don't buy it. Bernkastel was originally an aspect of Rika Furude, and I doubt the two families are linked. They don't care about anyone in the game, they're just bored.** If I might take it a step further and present a theory of my own, it's because Lambdadelta has a stake in the game, and granted Beatrice her power of "certainty" to win. However, Battler's appearance was an unexpected and unwanted variable, yet it's too late to call off the game and Beatrice can't go against Lambdadelta unless she wants her witchy sponser to abandon her, which she believes (at first) will reduce her to a mere human. The truth is, of course, that she doesn't need the acknowledgement in the first place, but she has forgotten that, and Lambdadelta is using her as a plaything to be discarded when she's done with her. Also, Frederica Bernkastel was sorely lacking empathy or real compassion back in HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi, so if it's the same person, she's been a sore loser for some time now.*** That sounds about right, but I would amend that, since the game was always expected to involve Battler, and Lambdadelta and Bernkastel both bank on this, the unexpected element is Battler actually doing well.

[[WMG: The X person from 19 years ago.]]* The gender of the baby has not been declared in red, therefore in can be either male or female. Even if Natsuhi gets a call from a male claiming to be the son, the reader has no proof of the babby was actually male to begin with.* It is stated that Shannon came from the same orphan house as that baby.* Shannon's age has not been revealed.* Battler's birth circumstances are in question, even his theory is that he's actually the person from 19 years agoThere are actually two people that fit this criteria properly, Battler -and- Shannon, Jessica might count as well if you believe that she's Natsuhi's child althought there's no red for this either. Considering Natsuhi's mental state, there is still a possibility that the guilt caused her to love -another- adopted child as her own.

In other words, we have 3 people in the same age group, two of 'em have special birth circumstances and the other one has a parent with mental issues which might serve to put their birth circumstances in question.

[[WMG: At the end of Umineko Meta-Battler will find himself in the same position as Bernkastel after Higurashi ]]He will become a separate entity form his human self, a Sorcerer wandering the sea of kakera for all eternity. He will be forever separated from everyone he cares about, his only companion being the enemy he fought all this time,and came to love......after all now they have only each other.

[[WMG: Siesta 00 is the girl Keiichi shot through the eye.]]Really for no reason other than the eyepatch. Perhaps the lynching on the battlefield for being inhuman is a metaphor for Keiichi's detachment that led him to act the way he did.

[[WMG: Rudolf is responsible for the time loop.]]When he recited the KonamiCode all the way back in [=EP1=], he inadvertently gave everyone infinite lives.* Which version of [=EP1=] does he say it in, Anime, Manga, or V.N.?** It only appears in the Visual Novel, since it's in the airport and both of the other versions cut that.

[[WMG: Beatrice is actually a teapot.]]* In [=EP1=], the giant murder party started after tea was served. Poison tea could cause everyone to hallucinate about stakes and gore and shit. What contained the tea? Teatrice.* In [=EP2=], Shannon gets the gold butterfly brooch thing while she's on the beach. This makes little sense, though, as a) she wouldn't be on the beach, she'd be doing meido things, and b) how the hell would a servant get a perfectly made golden brooch? Shannon is actually just in the kitchen, and she's holding the teapot that is Beatrice. She's thinking about George and how she is in ~RABU~ with him, which translates to the magical love-enhancing power whatsit of the butterfly brooch.* One of Natsuhi's many delusions in [=EP5=] is that she's drinking tea with Beatrice. However, Bern states in red that there was only one person drinking tea there. Natsuhi still was technically drinking tea with "Beatrice," because TEATRICE.* Bronove hangs around Beato and makes cookies. Cookies go with tea, right? And tea goes with teapots. TEATRICE.* Beatrice is Western. Kinzo's got an obsession with Western shit, right? Well, the teapot was imported from Europe.* To get around the "only humans are involved" rule...well, who brought out the teapot? Who bought it in the first place? Who put the tea in it? There's an "accomplice," someone using the teapot...but the teapot itself is what's killing people. ** This kind of implies that Battler fell in love with a teapot and said lots of Engrishy things to it. HE'LL RIDE IN ON A WHITE HORSE TO SAVE YOU, TEAPOT-CHAN~! He could have dropped the teapot or something, which would make it really hard to put back together. He probably got in trouble and promised that he'd be back next year to put it together on his own, but after he left the family they realized that he wouldn't be back. So, they put it together again, and put it on some shelf somewhere...until the family conference six years later, where they decided to take it out again.* Maria's used to speaking to inanimate objects, so TEAPOT AS BFF is no problem there.** I like this theory.** It's actually a lot closer to the truth than you might think. While she might (or might not) be teapot shaped, though, she isn't a teapot.

[[WMG:In [=EP3=], Beatrice didn't epicly troll Battler; Battler trolled HER!]]He probably planned the contract thing from the start, and what really was written there is "I do not accept Beatrice as a witch" with "do not" in very tiny letters. Battler read out "I accept you as a witch" so that Beato won't concentrate too much on what really was written. Then he made Beato sign first. Tah-dah. ''Ihihihihi!! Humans don't refooorm!''

[[WMG:Battler's sin is killing a duck.]]Battler killed a duck, and wears it on his head, stained with blood. Beatrice sides with PETA, and wants him to realize his sin.* [[MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate Good riddance.]]

[[WMG: The 07151129 number puzzle has another meaning]]We can solve this by using [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha iroha.]] We know "0715" is Battler's birthday. If we translate "1129" into hiragana, we get "ii rori". So... "Battler is a good loli"! Considering how often iroha is used in Japanese-language mysteries, it's not that far-fetched, is it?* So what does that mean? Are you proposing that this all comes down to those promises Battler got out of Maria?

[[WMG: Ryukishi07 visited friends in South Korea before writing out the plot]]...and while he was there, they showed him this funny American game that's very popular where they live. It has aliens; and guns; and online multiplayer. But the people online are a buncha eleven-year olds, and Ryukishi07 decided to write about his experiences in his next series of VNs.* Nobody got murdered, but the connection wasn't great, so there's a fair amount of disconnecting going on.* These people were using invisible units. Freaking invisible. Where are the gosh darn things? They aren't there at all! I won't recognize them! They don't exist!* Red got confused, though, and started taking things too seriously. But he got better after a good challenge was thrown at him.* Grey and yellow pulled a "in order to fool your foe, you must first fool you friend" style of trick, which involved yellow killing grey's main and then grey warping in Zealots on red. Luckily for red, that was about when his little sister's forces arrived, and she managed to save his base.* After a couple of games, the host (yellow) got tired and started lagtrolling everyone. Thankfully, blue and pink lived in an apartment near her's, and threw stale spaghetti at her windows until she reconnected.* Red's little sister wanted to play, too, but he didn't realize who she was and almost killed her main. Then she lagged out.Did I miss anything?

[[WMG:All Bernkastel wants is a heartwrenching story with a heartwarming ending.]]... So much that she would even play the villain just to see a story like that. I mean, she probably couldn't get enough of Rika's story, and since it's over she wants to see a new one, and spots potential in the Ushiromiya family. She screws with them and makes them all sad just to be able to see them happy and hugging in the end, and she will move off with a contented sigh, commenting about "This is even better than that girl's story."* Actually, it seems that good old Trollkastel [[spoiler: feels the exact opposite of the way you think she acts: "......All this about love......and promises. ......To end the game quietly and let her sleep in peace? ......That sort of ending would make anyone vomit. I didn't give Battler all that advice so that he could end things like that. ......I had his little sister turned to scrap meat behind his back. I had his parents and family killed horribly over and over again. That was all to spark a desire for revenge against Beato." - Episode 6]]

[[WMG: The baby from 19 years ago is a RedHerring]]We know it was possible for the game's to be solved after the first four. The existence of the baby wasn't even implied until the 5th game, so it's unlikely that the child's existence is important to the mystery. * Weren't the baby and the servant mentioned as backstory in the first game?** Certainly the servant was. Alternatively, the baby could be Battler; saying that his mother isn't Asumu does rather imply that she was someone else, doesn't it?** But we were also told that Kyrie gave birth, and miscarried, the same day that Asumu did. It's possible that Asumu was the one who really miscarried, and tricked people into thinking Battler was her child when it was really Kyrie's.

[[WMG: Ange isn't Battler's little sister...]]... she's [[AreYouMyMummy his daughter]]. This theory is only viable if Battler is the child from 19 years ago, pushing up his age. Battler would have been around 13 to 14 years old when Ange was conceived(Battler's supposed to be 18 + 1 year between when Natsuhi received the child and when Battler was born + 1 year for the child having existed prior to Natsuhi being given it rounded up -7 years = ~ 13) it's possible for boys to produce viable sperm at that age. He's also shown that he believes acting pervy is something a man's supposed to do. He and one of the servant girls go at it, girl gets pregnant. Nine months pass, servant gives birth to Ange, but by this point Asumu is dead, so Rudolf hurries Kyrie into the registry in order to make it seem that Ange is their child conceived by affair before Asumu's death. Battler gets angry, doesn't realize his sister is his daughter and leaves the family. 6 years later Ange's real mother takes revenge on the Ushiromiya family because Battler stole her heart, knocked her up, and then forgot all about her.* It's so much crueller than that. Battler was a precocious casanova, like his father. Ange is Kyrie's daughter. Battler is very likely Kyrie's son too, but neither know it. That Oedipus guy, too, kept going on about 'truth truth truth', but what he learned didn't make him happy.* Plus, think about it: Six years ago, Battler commited some terrible sin. Those very six years ago, Ange was born. Hmm....

[[WMG: In relation to the above, Ange's mother is Beatrice.]]It was implied at one point that Beatrice used to be furniture, so she could have been a servant for the Ushiromiya household prior to becoming Beatrice. She could have been the servant girl whom Battler slept with, and the one to give birth to Ange. However, this was back when she was a sweet, naive girl who knew little about how the real world worked. She would not fully understand the social ramifications of a young woman (never mind a twelve or thirteen year old) having a child out of wedlock. She is the mother who wants revenge on Battler not only for knocking her up, but (in her eyes) for stealing her child away from her.* Doubt it. Battler's actually pretty innocent in this aspect, and there's no proof to back up this claim. He only had a crush on one person in his life, and it was Shannon, but according to what he said in Ep5, he never actually confessed to her before he made those cheesy Engrish statements and left for 6 years and never came back. ** Schroedinger's Virginity; besides, Ange's mother doesn't have to be a servant girl who eventually took on the name of "Beatrice". For all we know, it could be [[KissingCousins Jessica.]]

[[WMG: Kanon is literally NotHimself]]After the fight with Kanon in EP 2, the servants say that when he attacked them, he was not himself. Rather than an abrupt personality change, he may have been a completely different person altogether - because he was murdered prior to the game. Said murderer then proceeded to disguise themselves as Kanon. This also leaves room for an extra person to appear in [[color:red:"There are no more than 17 people on the island!"]] Additionally, this satisfies [[color:red:"Kanon died in this room."]] He could have been killed in that room, before the game, after which the body was hidden. This also explains why his body goes missing so often.* [[color:red:"The only one who can claim Kanon's name is the person himself! A different person cannot claim his name!]]** [[color:red:Kanon's real name is "Yoshiya".]] [[color:blue:The Red Truth could refer to the real name "Yoshiya" instead of his servant name "Kanon". In other words, that red could be read as "''the only person who can claim the name 'Yoshiya' is the servant called 'Kanon'! A different person cannot claim the name 'Yoshiya' for themselves!''"]]

[[WMG: Bernkastel is TheVirus]]This is generally hinted at throughout ''Umineko'', but I'd like to enumerate it. We know from ''Higurashi'' that "Frederica is not Furude Rika", but we also know that Bernkastel is probably an agglutination of all of those dead Rikas throughout ''Higurashi''. [[spoiler:Featherine Augusta Aurora is somehow related to Hanyuu, but not Hanyuu herself.]] The theory is that Bernkastel and Featherine are extremely powerful possible versions of Rika and Hanyuu and that, like an opportunistic infection, they forcibly write themselves into kakera after kakera (possibly overwriting the personalities of the existing Rika and Hanyuu). Either the ''Higurashi'' universe is one of the kakera that escaped this treatment or [[PoisonOakEpilepticTrees the Rika and Hanyuu we all know and love are the ones who went evil in the first place]].* Poison oak or not, that one might be correct. [[color:red:Rika and Hanyuu essentially overwrite the personality of the new world's Rika and Hanyuu.]]** [[color:red: Whenever we see Rika incarnate into a new world it is right after the Rika of that world has had an experience that she could have died from.]] [[color:blue: In every case the native Rika actually did die, but Hanyuu used her powers to revive the body and attach the "main" Rika's soul to it. Thus, the native Rika's soul simply does whatever the souls of the dead normally do.]]*** [[color:red:You have not proposed a mechanism by which Bernkastel and [[spoiler:Featherine]] write themselves into new universes!]] [[color:blue:They use the method you outlined above!]]*** [[color:gold:Bernkastel is '''not''' Furude Rika.]] Shame on you if you thought so. [[color:red:Bernkastel originated as a ''database'' from which Hanyuu extracted the memories of 'her' Rika, with which she replaced the different kakera's native Rikas because having so many copies of the same memories was taking a toll on Rika's sanity.]] [[color:blue: I propose that Bernkastel's malice and insanity are results of being a creature created to store the massive backlog of memories from hundreds or thousands of Bad Ends.]] [[color:red:Bernkastel is indeed TheVirus and ''a'' Furude Rika (many of them, actually), but the Furude Rika who turns the calendar to 1 July Showa 58 is not the Furude Rika who is the CompleteMonster BigBad of ''Umineko''.]] [[color:red:Not enough is known about Featherine yet to speculate firmly,]] [[color:blue:but I suggest that she is a similarly 'corrupted' (like a bad Temporary File in a computer) Hanyuu.]]

[[WMG: Kumasawa wrote the bottle messages.]]The writer of the messages had the same handwriting as the "Beatrice" in Maria's Grimoire. Maria claims to have met Beatrice every year on the island, so it stands to reason that they were there that year too. Kumasawa appears to narrate certain details, ones that would otherwise go unexplained for several games, a few times early in the first game as if she were the one telling the story.

[[WMG: Maria really does understand (somewhat) the things Battler asks her to promise to him. She promises anyway because she developed a crush on him when they met at the airport.]]Uu~ Maria doesn't have many human friends... But Battler understands Maria Uu~

Uu~ Everything's more fun when Battler's around Uu~ Battler even knows about Halloween Uu~ If only Maria could get Battler to believe in magic Uuu~

* [[{{Lolicon}} No.]] [[NoJustNo Just...]] [[{{Squick}} no.]]** Aw, you're no fun... Uu~! Maria's glad to see Beatrice again! Maybe now... Uu~? [[WomanScorned Why is Battler paying so much attention to Beatrice?]] [[GreenEyedMonster Why has Battler forgotten about Maria?]] Uu~. [[{{Yandere}} Maybe it's not such a good thing Beatrice's here.]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse Maybe Beatrice needs to sleep forever.]] [[IfICantHaveYou Maybe Battler should join her if he likes her so much.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:red:You will not harm Battler Ushiromiya nor Beatrice The Golden Witch!]] [[color:red:I will not allow you to harm them!]] If you want your petty revenge against your cousin and your teacher, you will have to go through me. Do you think you can defeat me? ''Come, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kalin_Kessler try to satisfy me,]] '''MARIA USHIROMIYAAA!!!'''''*** (Other respondent.)[[color:blue: Uu~, Maria doesn't need to defeat you. Maria doesn't even need to harm them herself. Don't you see the thirteen corpses Maria's helper left lying around? It will be midnight soon, and then the ninth twilight will come. Sleep in peace, my ''[[SarcasmMode beloved]]'' witch Beatrice.]]**** (Respondent here.) I meant what I said, arrogant child. If you want your revenge, you must defeat me in this game. Also, what do you mean by the thirteen...? * looks at a bonfire, thirteen bodies can be seen burning* Oh, those? Thought it wouldn't be respectful to leave them lying around. Your helper? You mean that person? * a faraway gallows has someone hanging from it, but neither the gender or the identity can be verified* Heh, not their first time doing it. Harumph. Arrogant girl. Know your place. [[hottip:* :I know, I'm god-modding by offing the new elements, but I'm just messing around.]]

[[WMG:An explanation of the first twilight and Maria's death as derived from Maria's dream]]Isn't it odd that most of the first-person statesments in Maria's dream actually belong to ''Rosa''? [[color:red:Maria, in fact, in theory only gets one line of first-person, and it's a line on a screen that has nothing except for context to indicate that it is, in fact, Maria speaking.]]

[[color:red:If we yank the first person lines of the dream out of the context they're given in, we have Rosa waking up on a cold floor, meeting a child, coming to the conclusion that the child is Sakutaro and referring to him like that a few different times. Although he doesn't correct her, he doesn't confirm it either.]] We maybe have him saying that she needs to get away from Maria because Maria's not Maria anymore(I'm debating how much dialogue is relevant if we're removing narration from context. My leaning is to include it only where it is on the same screen as first-person narration). Then things start to get weird, where her head hurts a lot in connection to the "uryus", he leaves a hole in her hand, and then she denies him and he disappears (I forget whether this bit is in first-person or not). [[color:red:Rosa sees Maria and the silhouette of an adult behind her (Presumably Beatrice), and then after a lot of yelling, Rosa is torn apart by her own hands. Loads of third person. The next time we get the first person again is one line close to the end of the scene - "I erased that laughing voice. Next, I'll erase that laughing face."]]

[[color:red:One of the recurring theories as to how the first twilight of any arc could be possible is via a drug. However, Knox's 4th states on this matter that it can't be an unknown poison (in other words, drug).]] [[color:blue:Therefore, we must get more specific.]] [[color:red:There are already plenty of drugs that can make people have weird hallucinations,]] [[color:blue:but we don't even need to go that far. Just one that makes someone more suggestible - in other words, a depressant in the right dosage.]] Honestly, I would look at something like Ketamine - one of the "date rape drugs" - since [[color:red:it has both depressant and hallucinogenic qualities.]] In fact, as further evidence, I submit to you a section of ThatOtherWiki on Ketamine - my own speculations in red & blue:

"Ketamine produces effects similar to PCP and DXM. Unlike the other well known dissociatives PCP and DXM, ketamine is very short acting, its hallucinatory effects lasting sixty minutes when insufflated or injected and up to two hours when ingested, the total experience lasting no more than a couple of hours.[71] [[color:red:What ever was given to Kyrie et al. assuming none of them are the culprit could not last very long. Although for them, it did have to be even shorter than what's specified here.]] [[color:blue:However, for Rosa, if we assume my theory about Maria, the time frame is just about perfect.]] Like other dissociative anaesthetics, hallucinations caused by ketamine are fundamentally different from those caused by tryptamines and phenethylamines. At low doses, hallucinations are only seen when one is in a dark room with one's eyes closed, while at medium to high doses the effects are far more intense and obvious.[72] [[color:blue:I am, of course, vouching for the "medium to high dosages" point.]]

Ketamine produces a dissociative state, characterised by a sense of detachment from one's physical body and the external world which is known as depersonalization and derealization.[73] [[color:blue:Rosa's description of the dimension she was in sounds a lot like this.]] At sufficiently high doses (e.g. 150 mg intramuscular), users may experience what is coined the "K-hole", a state of dissociation whose effects are thought to mimic the phenomenology of schizophrenia.[74] Users may experience worlds or dimensions that are ineffable, all the while being completely unaware of their individual identities or the external world. Users have reported intense hallucinations including visual hallucinations, perceptions of falling [[color:red: This matches the account given by Kyrie, Krauss, Kanon, Shannon, and Nanjo]], fast and gradual movement and flying, 'seeing God', feeling connected to other users, objects and the cosmos, experiencing psychic connections, and shared hallucinations and thoughts with adjacent users. John C. Lilly[75], Marcia Moore[76] and D. M. Turner[77] (among others) have written extensively about their own spiritual/psychonautic use of ketamine. (Both Moore[78] and Turner[79] died prematurely in a way that has been linked to their ketamine use.)"

[[color:blue:What we are seeing in the first part is Rosa waking up while under the influence of the drug. She sees a child. Still trying to fill in the blank on that one. Normally, I'd say it's Maria, but since she shows up later... This is probably the toughest part to fill in. Will get back to it. Rosa's head hurts - that'd be easy under the influence of a lot of different drugs, especially if she were overdosed, which she would probably have to be in a lot of these cases.]]

[[color:red:Sees Maria and Beatrice.]] [[color:blue:Because of that, I'd yank this scene out of chronological context too and place it around the time Maria goes to take her test.]] [[color:red:Remember how her body is found? In the dining hall - the same place as the first twilight victims - including Rosa! And without any external injuries, so Battler himself theorizes that she was killed by poison.]] [[color:blue:This is before any of the adults have had their faces removed, although they may be dead (I would theorize that Rosa's relative lucidity was an unintended element). Chances are, they were just about to poison her - give her a snack while they talked, or something.]]

In fact, [[color:blue:I would take Maria's body being found in the dining room without injury as a support for the theory that the actual deaths of those six occur later than we are led to believe.]] It's not proof because she could have been killed in another room with the dining room with the dining room itself sealed off from her sight. [[color:blue:However, I propose that she was, in fact, killed in the dining room. She saw the adults napping in their chairs and was told either:]]

[[color:blue:a. They're napping. She's shown quite a few times to be gullible, so I wouldn't put falling for this past her.]]

[[color:blue:b. They're going to the Golden Land. They don't look hurt; they look peaceful. That would comfort her, and she would be fine with the situation.]]

Now, here's why I don't think she could have been led into the dining room if they were killed with their heads smashed at the time we think they were - [[color:blue:seeing the adults with faces half-gone would be an immediate warning to * RUN* for her.]] [[color:red:She still has some sort of sense of danger, even if she'll be led to the Golden Land. We saw that at the end of the second arc.]] Sure, that could have happened, and she could have been injected with something, but in that case, you'd expect to see some sort of evidence of a struggle, like an injury. [[color:red:There weren't any.]]

[[color:blue:So Rosa sees Maria and tries to go over to her without understanding what's going on around her, when she is grabbed by someone - I would definitely place this person among the fifteen, but I think the one behind Maria, if (s)he is among the ones we know of as that group, is very well disguised. Rosa is too doped to figure out that the hands grabbing her are, in fact, someone else's and thinks that they're her own hands.]]

[[color:red:Then we have that one line - "I erased that laughing voice. Next, I'll erase that laughing face."]] Doesn't necessarily need to refer to Rosa here. I would have it as any of the six adults, because remind me how they were found again? Oh yeah - [[color:red:THEIR FACES WERE HALF-GONE.]] I will say this, though - [[color:blue:it's most likely to be Rosa if we allow a tiny bit of context. Probably, knowing who it's referring to would be the key to cracking the mystery.]]

Now then, I know what you're thinking - "Well, then, why did Gohda and Kumasawa say that they saw the faces half-smashed before running to the guesthouse? [[color:blue:Answer: They were put up to it. After everyone else was drugged and passed out, they were told by the culprit what would happen to everyone. And then, they were told that if they wanted to be spared, to leave and go to the guesthouse while the culprit did that. The culprit, of course, lied to them - their heads were smashed later. They were also told to tell the kids what they were told as if they had witnessed it. If everything worked according to plan, then maybe the children would be spared too. They would definitely be killed if they were found outside the guesthouse. And so they took a chance that they would be able to save someone and did as they were told.]]

As for why this goes against Kyrie's first-person statements? Frankly, [[color:red:I don't trust them.]] I think that [[color:blue:Kyrie at the very least is aiding the culprit, probably against everyone else's knowledge.]] [[color:red:The fact that she goes so far as to describe the Siesta Sisters and goat-headed butlers]] is suspicious enough, but when it' s looking more and more likely that Shannon and Kanon are one person (see statements about that theory - connects to the sixth game too), the fact [[color:red:she stated that both of their deaths were separate]] makes me even more suspicious. [[color:blue:Thus, I suspect her first-person parts, where she talks about the golden thread smashing the faces, of being lies.]]

[[color:red:And Krauss never directly says it when he's on the phone. Jessica says that she heard from Kumasawa and Gohda after Krauss basically pauses]] [[color:blue:So what if he paused because he didn't actually know what had happened to Natsuhi when Jessica asked? Then Jessica says that and Krauss is worried about her rushing out to try to rescue Natsuhi, because he doesn't know what Gohda and Kumasawa told her - they may well have said that she was captured, as far as he knows. And so he tells her not to do anything brash.]]

There may be some other hints that can be gleaned from this scene, but the fact that it was so non-sensical in the flow of the story just makes me want to root around in it even more.

[[WMG: So. Stakes.]]They're shafts about yea long. In appearance disgusting, even 'demonic'. Viciously pointed ends. They embody all that is sinful. They're partially autonomous, and might leap up and try to pierce a person even if their bearer doesn't wish them to. They talk at length about how ecstatically pleasant it is pierce flesh.

''All of this'' was extrapolated from one phrase in the epitaph about how body parts should be 'gouged' somehow.

[[WMG: Battler has lost his magic immunity]]With Erika promised to take over the role of detective, Piece-Battler's lost any privileged status as 'narrator' or 'witness'. His testimony is no longer any more reliable that any other piece on the board. Because of this, the polite fiction that he never witnessed any witchery in action because of his abnormally strong magic resistance is no longer necessary.

The next time Battler slinks off on his own, he's going to turn on the lights and BOOM! Piece-Beatrice right up in his face. She'll give him a hug and a kiss, shake his hand and then slap him across the cheek.-->'''Beatrice:''' I can't ''say'' how long I've wanted to do that.Then she'll pull his face off, just for old time's sake.

[[WMG: Battler should be feeling a lot of deja vu right about now]]There is a woman who loves the Ushiromyia family very much. When she saw the terrible events that would follow from Kinzo's death, she swore to do anything to cover the truth with noble lies. She would gladly drag her reputation through the mud to preserve the honour of the Ushiromiya.

She never imagined how bad things would get, though, and the strain of constant deceit tears her apart. Worse than that, the witch of miracles has sent a detective against her who constantly attacks and belittles her, pokes holes in her deception and treats her with a chilling lack of love. Worse than ''that'', she's acting under duress, and an enigmatic mastermind sometimes orders her to perform acts which further slander her -- but if she refuses she will suffer the worst of all possible fates. Pinned on a board, she is gradually worn down until at her lowest ebb she breaks and confesses her darkest and most private shame. But it's all too late, zenzen dame da -- the torture has broken her and she'll never be whole again.

Quickly: did I just describe the events of Episode 5, or Episodes 1 to 4?

%% So in this metaphor the voice on the telephone would be... Lambdadelta... OH HELL THE VOICE ON THE TELEPHONE WAS LAMBDADELTA

* This is why I think Natsuhi is at least one of the most appropriate successors to the headship, despite marrying into the family. She ties with Eva for the position, IMO.

[[WMG: The "Battler is Kyrie's son" theory, and the "Battler is the child from 19 years ago theory" are compatible.]]Asumu and Kyrie gave birth around the same time. Asumu's child was stillborn, but if Kyrie gave birth to a son and Asumu didn't Rudolf would have to leave her for Kyrie. So Asumu has someone take Kyrie's child and put it up for adoption. Unfortunately for her, they put him in a certain orphanage that has close ties with the Ushiromiya family, causing Kinzo to find out. He tries to have Natsuhi raise the child but that doesn't go well. Then Kinzo puts Battler with Rudolf and Asumu and has them act like the child was born a year later then it really was.

[[WMG: Beatrice is actually three people.]]Meta-Beatrice, that is. At least, the Beatrice from the first four or five games; whether this still applies to her is debatable, but...meh. Anyway, she is composed of the three Beatrices who existed: The Beatrice Kinzo loved but could not marry, the Beatrice whom Rosa met, and piece-Beatrice, who is also loli-Beatrice from her dream in the beginning of Ep3.Kinzo did indeed love a woman named Beatrice, but that Beatrice [[DeathByChildbirth died shortly after giving birth to their illegitimate daughter.]] Kinzo had this girl raised in Kuwadorian so he could keep a part of his beloved Beatrice nearby without shaming the family, but then SHE died. Kinzo was now on the grip of insanity and devastation after losing the only reminder of his lover, so he adopted another Beatrice from his orphanage, a baby (or a child) with blonde hair and blue eyes, hoping to raise this girl to become his beloved Beatrice.

Now, this Beatrice was truly unique. She had a wild imagination but no playmates. She somehow learned about the previous Beatrice's (possibly by going through old diaries left behind in Kuwadorian, and looking up old photos) and these two women combined and became her imaginary friend. Then she met Battler, who promised to come back for her on a white horse (in combination with the Pony Theory). This caused her to take her imaginary playtime with 'Beatrice' to a whole new level; she started dressing up like Beatrice and even claimed that she was Beatrice herself, pretending to be a princess awaiting for her prince to arrive.

To her misfortune, however, an already unstable Kinzo took her words a little too literally. He visited her one night, and questioned her of her identity, asking if she remembered him. She tried to explain she was just playing make-believe, but he tortured her into 'confessing' to being his beloved Beatrice. After this 'confession', he then proceeded to sexually assault her, believing this was his beloved Beatrice come back to him. Alternately, Genji and Kumasawa showed up just before he had a chance to do this, but it was too late; the damage had already been done.

After this incident, she was [[BreakTheCutie completely broken,]] thoroughly convinced it was her fault for pretending to be Beatrice while Kinzo was within earshot. She had a total nervous breakdown, causing her personality to [[LiteralSplitPersonality split quite literally]] (similar to Eva and Eva-Beatrice) and merge with the other two Beatrices. Therefore, meta-Beatrice is in fact all three Beatrices put together.

This Beatrice has all the memories of the past Beatrices who lived, but she also has a combination of the three Beatrices' personalities, which is why she keeps tripping through the [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Face Heel Revolving Door]]. One of these Beatrices (probably the first) was slightly arrogant, the other one (the second) was a bit softer yet naive and unknowing of the world beyond Kuwadorian, and the third was a slight mixture of the two childish and naive, yet jaded by her experience with Kinzo, while also holding an affection for Battler. When you mix these three personalities together, you get meta-Beatrice.* This theory works quite well, but I'd make one small alteration, the original Beatrice secretly survived and stayed by Kinzo's side without him knowing it. This helps reconcile the Virgilia/Kumasawa as Predecessor Beatrice argument with this one.

[[WMG: A Brief Explanation of Time Loops]]This theory arose as a means of trying to explain the time loop and meta-world without magic. It does however, require some seriously unlikely psychological phenomena. It's based on the time looping concept from Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel ''All You Need is Kill''.Basically, only the beginning of the first arc and the conclusion of the last arc really happen. Everything else is Battler contemplating the path that's led him to the point at which he usually dies and considering where that path will lead him.

First Arc: The murders commence as usual. Before the ninth twilight, Battler tries to imagine what will happen next. His conclusion is that he, George, Maria, and Jessica will be killed in the ninth twilight, so he tries to formulate a plan that will lead to a better end.

Second Arc: Battler commences his session of thinking and imagines another possible way the last few days events could have played out. (His thinking here is influenced by the conversation about "bad luck" he overhears Genji and Kanon having in Episode 1.) Battler realizes accepting Beatrice rather than denying her will yield different results, but when he considers the consequences, it dawns on him that that course of action will only lead to more death.

Third Arc: Battler wonders if safeguarding his own safety by hiding would be a better course of action. He also probes his mind for memories of his grandmother's tales about Beatrice and discovers he remembers more about her than he thought. His disdain for the idea of Beatrice being the culprit leads him to assume Eva, being the most blatantly obvious suspect, is the killer. He realizes that if this is so, she'll eventually get to him anyway and moves on to another line of thought.

Fourth Arc: Battler, remembering the purpose of the family conference and the original positions of the first twilight victims, realizes it is quite likely his grandfather is the culprit. This hasty conclusion is a similar error to his folly regarding Eva in the third arc, and he decides that the very idea is absurd. His thoughts lead him to piece together a theory that Kinzo may already be dead, and thus should not play into his scheming any further.

Fifth Arc: In his despair at his inability to come up with a method of survival, Battler's thoughts lapse from strategy to fantasy. He prays desperately for a deus ex machina situation to occur and save him from his fate. His hopes manifest in the idea of a "super-detective" that would have the skills to solve the mystery. It finally hits Battler that if Beatrice doesn't exist, one of his family members must be a culprit and he hates the idea, so he changes his thinking.

Final Arc (Unseen): Battler comes to an ultimate conclusion, solves the mystery, and defeats the culprit. This is the true answer to the first arc.All meta world segments can be considered metaphorical looks into Battler's mind.

[[WMG:Rosa was planning on giving Maria a new Sakutaro on Rokkenjima.]]We know that Ange found something when she went down the stairs while talking with Captain Kawabata. We also know that things clicked into place for her regarding Maria and Beatrice. We also know that in the Golden Land, she summoned the Sakutarou ''plushie'', which was the thing that allowed Maria to accept Sakutaro's existence again. This completely flummoxed Beatrice, who tried to state in red that Sakutaro was a plushie handmade by Rosa, and that there was only-" and then she stopped. Inference would lead us to think that she was trying to say that there was only one in the world. This, she couldn't say because what Ange had found was another Sakutaro plushie. Rosa had packed it to take to Rokkenjima, but dropped it accidentally on the boat ride over there. Captain Kawabata later found it and, although he wasn't sure who had dropped it, planned to give it back to them later. Of course, he couldn't do that, but he held on to the plushie, and after 12 years, of course he wouldn't remember it. After all, he had no one to connect it to. But Ange noticed because she knows what Sakutaro looks like, and on Rokkenjima, 12 years after the murders, she offered it there to Maria's spirit so that Maria's spirit could be at peace. Before she, herself, died.

* At the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key.** At the first arc's tea party there were only six people (if you don't count Beatrice).* At the second twilight, the surviving shall tear apart the two who are close.** Perhaps referring to Maria and Rosa being torn apart (in more ways than one) at the end of the 2nd arc.** Rather, the whole arc revolved around it: First all of the adult COUPLES, then Jessica and Kanon, then George and Shannon, and finally Maria and Rosa. In short, the theme of the whole arc. * At the third twilight, the surviving shall praise my honorable name on high.** First arc with someone finding the gold and escaping, Battler almost gives in to Beatrice due to her 'North Wind and Sun' strategy.* At the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.** The illusion of the living Kinzo (the head of the Ushiromiya family) is destroyed, nearly every death involves a head wound.** Also, Battler's mental breakdown after finding out about [[spoiler:Asumu not being his mother.]] * At the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.** The object that [[spoiler:killed Battler]] was piercing his chest.** Not to mention [[spoiler:Beatrice's death, chest = heart, etc.]]* At the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.** This one is more on the metaphorical side I think (it might just plain not fit, but it's close enough for me to add), but [[spoiler:some anatomists consider parts of the female reproductive system to be part of the abdomen, which is what most people refer to when they say stomach/belly; All five of the characters confirmed dead had them, and four of those had used them... Eva was even telling George that he still counted as being there up until he killed her, and the second to last blow he dealt her was to her abdomen.]]

The following twilights are for games that have either not been translated or have not been released, added here for completeness.

* At the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.* At the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.* At the ninth twilight, the Witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive.* At the tenth twilight, the journey shall end and you should reach the village of gold.

Furthermore, what someone would be given for reaching the golden land sounds like what would happen if the story ends with a happy ending, as many assume/hope it will. The witch being put to sleep sounds like it represents the illusion of the witch being dispelled.

* This is impressive. It gets a little weak at the sixth twilight, but gains strength towards the end. Considering 07 will probably only do 8 episodes, the 9th and 10th represent the game ending and us solving the mystery, respectively.

[[WMG: Love and the Seven Stakes of Purgatory]].Some old books show the Plan of Dante's Inferno. These books divide the Seven sins into 3 based on Love. * Misdirected Love: Pride, Envy and Wrath.* Defficient Love: Sloth* Excessive Love: Gluttony, Lust and Greed.Considering reaching Beatrice is understanding Love, this might prove relevant.

[[WMG: Torture is Witchspeak for "I love you."]]Among witches, torturing your crush Higurashi/Umineko style is a perfectly acceptable way to court someone, because it's meant to be a fun game and gives you an excuse to spend lots of time with your target and get to know them. Hence the reason for all the LesYay between Bern and Lambda; by witch standards, Higurashi is a classic romance story, and Bern was very touched by all the effort Lambda went through to win her over. For whatever reason, Beato has fallen in love with Battler and is trying to win him over the way any other witch would: by setting up a high stakes game (the gruesome murders just make it that much more exciting). However, torture isn't romantic at all for most humans, so Battler utterly rejects Beatrice at first. Beato realizes this fact over the course of the games and starts flirting with him in a more conventional (by human standards) manner. This is why her playing is so lackluster--she wants the damn game to end because it doesn't serve her purposes any more. However, it's not so easy to stop a courtship ritual once it's started, which gives Bern and Lambda to take it over for their own purposes.

[[WMG: The last people alive are killed by a time bomb]]On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive and none shall be left alive. And inevidently everyone alive near the end of 5th of October disappear. This is simply a time bomb set by the culprit to explode at 24:00, at the end of the second day. This causes some kind of landslide under the mansion, burying most of the corpses and evidence. Eva was able to escape this by going to Kuwadorian in time. A bomb might also explain why the last people are so messily killed, and only a jaw is left of Maria in Episode 1. This is also why Battler dies at the end of Episode 4, even if nobody else was alive on the island, after waiting a whole day. Which is why the time the game ends is important. [[color:red:Ushiromiya Battler. I will now... kill you. And right now, there is no one other than you on this island. The only one alive on this island is you. Nothing outside the island can interfere. You are all alone on this island. And of course, I am not you. Yet I am here, now, and will kill you.]] "Beatrice" is already dead, but she's the one who set up the bomb, so techically she did kill Battler even if nobody else was there, and it isn't anything outside the island.* Okay then. [[color:red:Ushiromiya Battler. There is no one else on the island. You are the only living person. This island is a ClosedCircle. I am not you. There is someone speaking to you right now. That person is now going to kill you. Who are they, how are they speaking to you, and how are they going to kill you?]]** [[color:blue:You are a hallucination. That person is dead, and they have already set a time bomb.]]

[[WMG: The golden butterflies are a lit fuse]]The golden butterflies might actually be the light from a lit fuse, a sparkling kind. If you follow them, it might lead to some trap to injure the follower... In the end of Episode 1, I reckon the survivors saw golden butterflies and Beatrice coming out of the portrait. That scene might be about a fuse set on the portrait, which might give quite an impression when it lights up.

[[WMG: Kanon is Bernkastel]]Kanon is frequently and in an oddly deliberate manner compared to a cat. Bernkastel has a cat tail and at one point actually shows up as a cat. Kanon compares himself to a duck when talking to Jessica. Bernkastel said that she fell into Lambdadelta's trap like a duck in the extra Bernkastel's letter TIP. Bernkastel's obsessed with exposing Beatrice. Kanon expressed a former desire to "disclose her TrueColors" should he find her in the Gohda diary TIP, and still now dislikes her. He is also implied to be sneaking around throughout significant portions of the episodes - perhaps gathering clues? Both are also pretty calm, collected, and snarky, except when they get pissed.

[[WMG: Maria is the reincarnation of [[{{TheBible}} Mary]].]]It's stated in Episode 4 that MARIA has the maternal power to give birth to 1 from the sea of 0. [[{{WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic}} That's not exactly subtle is it?]] Other hints include the cross in her name, the murders in the ''chapel'' being dedicated to her, her belief in the guidance of a [[{{HotWitch}} higher]] [[{{GOD}} being]], and most of all, the rarity of her death. I surmise that being the one chosen to give birth to TheMessiah would make her too holy to be touched by Beatrice and the [[{{TheLegionsOfHell}} Stakes]]. Also, perhaps the [[{{OurAngelsAreDifferent}} Eiserne Jungfrau]] appearing from heaven to execute the hellish forces on Rokkenjima is evidence that {{God}} is protecting his [[{{Squick}} "investment"]].* So this clearly means Sakutaro is Jesus (the White Heart of Maria, her best friend and main creation, redeems her soul when he's revived, is a lion like Aslan, is loved by all, cannot be harmed by anything magical), so does this mean Beatrice is God? She speaks in Red Truth like Jesus in some versions of the Bible, her Endless Magic is godlike according to Eva-Beatrice, Mary/Maria believes in her despite being devout, she speaks of love and can command demons while mentioning Jesus a couple times, only people who believe her can see her, accepting her existence means going to a paradise, and she starts off being an evil monster, then turns into a hippie LoveFreak like the Old and New Testaments.** Wait, Jesus speaks in red truth in the Bible? [[JesusWasWayCool That's awesome!]]*** Well not so much Red Truth. Literally every word he says is in Red, because he's just that badass.**** I thought that was just to assert his authority (ties in with a WMG above) whether those around him acknowledge it or not. Alternatively, it was a clue that he's not a normal human.* I agree with the main theory linking Maria to Mary, but not that other troper's theory linking Beatrice to God. No, Maria is Beato (which is an actual word meaning blessed), Beato is known to be in love with Battler, and who impregnated the Virgin Mary in the Bible? And by that logic, Battler is God! (it's certainly more supportable than "small bombs")* [[{{Everyone is Jesus In Purgatory}} Everyone is God in Meta World]].* [[@/{{Oyashenron}} OP]] here. Just to expand on my opening theory, I don't think Sakutaro is Jesus. He's more of a Joseph figure. I'd assume we haven't seen the Jesus analogue yet. As for God, they mention the actual God in the text multiple times, so maybe... bare with me now... [[{{InsaneTrollLogic}} GOD IS GOD!]]

[[WMG: Kinzo isn't dead.]]In episode 4, it's stated that someone else can be recognized as Kinzo. If this is so, that person could be the Kinzo who is dead before the beginning of each game. Whoever they are, the real Kinzo is impersonating them or has paid an outsider to do so. It's most easily applicable if the dead Kinzo is Kanon or Shannon since the (mostly jossed, but not impossible) Shkanon theory could support this. If Kinzo is alive, he could be the one who caused the massacre in the dining hall in Alliance, thus making it easier to believe that his children believed it was him. Think about it, how willing would you be to accept some random person was the successor to your DisappearedDad?* Explain the scene with Natsuhi, Genji, Kumasawa, and Kinzo's body in [=EP5=]. The significance is this is where Natsuhi gets the idea of pretending that Kinzo is still alive.* Maybe Kinzo is pretending to be Genji?** That's what I was thinking. It makes the most sense since Genji delivers the will of Kinzo and spends a good deal of time in the study. If this is so, I assume the other servants (other than Gohda and maybe Kumasawa) are in on it. Nobody else sees much of Genji, and they've only ever seen Kinzo bearded, so clean shaven with different hair and some concealing make-up and it's plausible to think that nobody would notice Genji and Kinzo being swapped.* Wasn't it states the Kinzo was dead, in red. And that no one could pass off as the real Kinzo?** Yes, however Battler proposed that the name Kinzo was given to whoever was the head of the family (thus explaining how everyone at the family conference recoginized Kinzo's existence in the fourth game). If his theory is correct whoever was the head before Kinzo would also be named Kinzo.

[[WMG: The whole thing is due to Bernkastel and other witches achieving MediumAwareness and wanting to lash out at [[YouBastard Us Bastards]].]]In the Tanabata side story, when Bernkastel goes to [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor grant a wish]], she repeatedly addresses the audience, belittling us and accusing us of ''wanting'' to see her twist wishes about horribly and do terrible, horrific things with her magic. This isn't just a YouBastard attack, however: ''it's her MotiveRant''. After the hell all the Rikas were put through in Higurashi, Bernkastel gained MediumAwareness and came to realize that everything that happened ''was for our amusement''. So she can write off her being a CompleteMonster as just PanderingToTheBase, with the intent of giving us all a ''massive'' HeelRealization and sending us into a shared BSOD. And anyone who ''doesn't'' go into a BSOD upon [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the revelation]] are just proving that HumansAreBastards.* I fell in love with her at that point.* [[color:red:I do not watch to see someone do such murders, or grant evil wishes. I watch to see one who commits such actions be CAUGHT!]]** [[EvilCannotComprehendGood How could we expect her to understand this?]] If you underwent such a horrible ordeal, only to learn it was for somebody's entertainment... how likely would ''you'' be willing to listen to anyone claim they didn't mean any harm, or that they were on ''your'' side the whole time?

[[WMG: [[{{UminekoNoNakuKoroNi}} Umineko]] is to Ryukishi07 what [[{{NeonGenesisEvangelion}} Evangelion]] was to Hideaki Anno.]]Think about it; Evangelion deconstructed the mecha anime upon which it was based, while Umineko clearly deconstructs most of the tropes present in Higurashi. They both include YouSuck and YouBastard moments along with serious {{mindscrew}} and meta segments. Also, you really can't deny that some CreatorBreakdown is going on, what with BT's death and all. * But Umineko's been doing that since it started, and BT didn't die until a month before the fifth game came out.** Who is BT? (Doesn't know all the terminology, nicknames, or names behind the series.)*** BT was Ryukishi07's best friend, and the entire reason the WhenTheyCry franchise exists. Ryukishi07 originally wrote HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi for him.

[[WMG: The real (meta-)reason why everyone's rich...]]After the True Ending, Battler [[TimeTravel goes back to]] AncientRome [[YouWillBeBeethoven and becomes]] {{Plautus}}, where he uses the events of the final loop as the basis for ''ThePotOfGold''. He then becomes meta-Battler somehow, and uses the events of the rest of the series to write the lesser-known (but more accurate) ''TheAristocrats''. Over time, ''TheAristocrats'' is corrupted through MemeticMutation from a fantasy/mystery/romance/whatever about repeated murders and a BigScrewedUpFamily into [[DeadBabyComedy the joke we all know]]. Hence the plot reason for all the money; he couldn't call it "The Aristocrats" if it wasn't about ''aristocrats''.

[[WMG: Maria is Kinzo's daughter.]]Because he's a bastard. That'd also explain why Rosa is so broken. That doesn't mean that she's the murderer though.* That's probably the most likely explanation. Otherwise, why would Rosa be such a freak and why would she react so strongly to mentions of Maria's father?** Because he's her fiance, who ditched her after knocking her up. Even without invoking any other secrets, that's shameful to a lot of women, especially in Eastern cultures. There's also the possibility that our non-Kinzo mystery father raped her. Frankly, I don't imagine that Kinzo would touch Rosa unless he mistook her for Beatrice...but then she does have a connection to her...and the Supernatural Narrative says that Kinzo's black blood runs strongest in Maria...and Rosa and Beatrice seem to be a typical child's dissociation scenario of dividing a mother into pure good and pure evil beings. Uh oh, I think I just undercut my own argument.

[[WMG:Kanon was the person who went to the rose garden in disguise and brought Maria the umbrella and letter in Episode One]]It's not a very supportable hypothesis, because all of the servants had chances to disguise themselves as Beatrice and deliver those articles to Maria, but Kanon has some unique quirks to his alibi that make this theory fun. Kanon is told, by Genji, to fetch the the cousins in the guesthouse. Kanon passes through the rainy garden not far from where Maria is searching for her rose. Battler thinks to himself that it would be far more convenient for Kanon if he could have called the guesthouse on the phone, instead of tromping out in the rain. Kanon mentions opening his umbrella and running as fast as he could, but whether or not he's holding an umbrella when he gets to the cousins is left ambiguous. * Besides that, he could have been carrying two umbrellas when he initially went out.

[[WMG:Okonogi is the true culprit.]]We know from Higurashi that Okonogi is a very clever and influential man. He out-xanatos'd Takano for God's sake! Looking at Umineko, Okonogi has a lot to gain from the deaths of the Ushiromiyas. He could get a payout from the Sumaderas for finishing off their greatest rivals, and the Ushiromiya fortune would fall under his control until Ange was of age. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say he might have paid off one of the Ushiromiyas to betray the rest, or used a trick in the counting of the people on the island to sneak in a few Yamainu to assassinate the key players at the right points to make it appear Beatrice had commited the crime. He then has his forces bomb the mansion, eliminating any remaining survivors. He then sends Amakusa (Yamainu himself) to gain the trust of Ange and eventually snipe her. * [[color:red:Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented. Furthermore, Knox 1st. It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story.]]** [[color:blue:Knox's Rules may not apply, because it has not been stated in Gold that this is a Knox-observant Mystery.]]** [[color:red:Umineko is a part of the larger story known as "WhenTheyCry", which also incorporates Higurashi. Higurashi is before Umineko, both chronologically and in publication order. Okonogi was introduced in Higurashi.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Okonogi was introduced in the early part of the story]]. As for the "clues not presented" part... I got nothing.*** [[color:red:Okonogi did not debut in ''Umineko'' until [=EP4=]!]] [[color:blue:I propose that "the early part of the story" in the context that Knox's 1st is used in refers to [=EP1=], therefore, Okonogi has been ruled out as the culprit by Knox's 1st!]]

[[WMG: All the murders were done by a witch, using her witch magic]]Bear with me a moment...* [[color:red:Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]]** Prove that Knox's Decalogue is in effect! Say it in Red!*** That I can't say, but I can guarantee that since [[color:red:Higurashi did not end with all the murders having been done by Oyashiro-sama,]] [[color:blue:there is no way Ryuukishi07 will give us such a lame troll ending for Umineko.]]*** [[color:blue:Knox's rules were never in effect for Higurashi.]]**** [[color:red:Ryukishi is also one of the biggest troll ever]].**** False dichotomy! [[color:red:Ryukishi07 has already stated that he will not use the same plot device for Umineko,]] [[color:blue:but that does not mean that this is a Mystery!]] [[color:red:Battler has an entire scene dedicated to proving that this may not be the case in Episode 5's ????, before his ascension.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, I propose that this is not Mystery, but merely Anti-Fantasy.]]**** Yup, pure Fantasy or pure Mystery is boring, and not Umineko-ish. I suspect that magic is just a representation of different values (this doesn't apply to kakera magic, though). Anti-Fantasy all the way, but boo pro-mystery.*** [[color:red:It was never stated in Red or Gold that Knox's Decalogue is or is not in effect.]] [[color:red:However, for Knox's Decalogue to '''truly''' be in effect, it '''MUST''' be stated in Gold, for the only one who can apply Knox's Decalogue to the game is the Game Master.]] Otherwise, it can simply be a certain interpretation based on Dlanor's involvement and her recitals of the Decalogue in Red. [[color:blue:So long as it is never proclaimed in Gold that "Knox's Decalogue applies to this game as a Mystery", violations of the Decalogue are permissible since the Game Master never confirmed that Knox's Decalogue applied to the game. I propose that Beato never designed her game as a Mystery. Alternatively, if she '''did''' design it as a Mystery, then she either did not know of Knox's Decalogue, or chose not to have it apply to her game.]]**** [[color:blue:Wrong. While Gold Truth may be usable only by the Game Master, statements of fact about rules and premises may be made in red and counted as accurate, at least FromACertainPointOfView.]] (For example, I can say [[color:red:"All red text is true from some perspective"]] or list the victory conditions in red, and it is inarguably true despite being a rule) [[color:blue:Furthermore, simple membership in Knox's Decalogue does not grant a rule special status as far as applying or not applying unless otherwise stated.]] For instance, I can say [[color:red:"There were no Chinamen in Higurashi, therefore it obeys Knox 5"]] despite Higurashi explicitly breaking other Knox rules.***** [[color:red:Gold is said to sometimes be inferior to Red, but can sometimes be '''superior'''.]] Plus, the whole "absolute validity" thing mentioned on Umineko's Wiki. [[color:blue:But even then, you did not prove that the game was constructed around the Decalogue!]]****** [[color:blue:Requiring that I prove that the game was deliberately and intentionally constructed around the Decalogue would qualify as a Devil's Proof, as I cannot know the mindset of its creator at the time of its creation. I can, however, say that ]] [[color:red: because anything in red is true,]] [[color:blue:any rule of the Decalogue spoken in red applies to the story-- even if just coincidentally (Knox's 5th can easily apply to stories not meant to follow the Decalogue) and only FromACertainPointOfView (Knox's 2nd can only apply to an Anti-Fantasy stance)-- unless it is qualified with "If this story obeys the Decalogue" or the like. This is true even if the story is not a Mystery, as even stories without Mystery elements can have culprits and detectives, or as they are more frequently termed in such stories, killers and heroes.]]******* The statement that "[[color:red:Anything in red is true]]" can only apply if all involved believe it. [[color:red:As such, while it is a valid viewpoint, and shouldn't simply be shifted aside, it also should not be taken as absolutely true, with any conflicting facts being lies or woven by outside deception,]] [[color:blue:as that borderlines religious belief, and]], as stated in a WMG further up, [[color:red:neither the Red Truth nor the Golden Truth can be used to verify the existence of a supernatural entity]] [[color:blue:beyond affirming that the speaker believes the words they're saying. Thus, the Golden Truth could possibly '''not''' work in that case, while the Red Truth would, since, in order to stand, it requires belief that it is true.]] (Most of the blue statements are due to possible misinterpretations or possible mistaken beliefs. I could be completely wrong, or simply looking at it the wrong way.)*** [[ReadingRainbow This WMG is becoming]]... '''[[IncrediblyLamePun A READING RAINBOW]]!'''**** [[color:green:ReadingRainbow was a show the enocouraged children to read.]]***** A-are we sure that it's a good idea to encourage children to read by throwing Umineko at them? "See spot. See spot run. Run spot run. See spot get his goddamn face smashed in with gardening tools and see Spot locked in the shed. See spot get into a metaphorical battle of wits with a witch that may or may not exist. Run spot run."** Who cares whether Knox decalogue applies or not? Knox's second states that the ''detective'' cannot use magic. It does not prevent the culprit from being a magical witch. [[color:red:This theory does not contradict the Decalogue.]]

[[WMG:The statement "The games between Beatrice and Battler Ushiromiya adhere to Knox's Decalogue as Mysteries" must be stated in Gold to truly rule out possibilities that violate the Decalogue.]]After all, hasn't Red been confirmed as being a subjective truth, which can be used if the statement is literally true from at least one given perspective? [[color:blue:Therefore, the only possible way to truly rule out the possibilities that were countered with the Decalogue is to proclaim it in Gold that the games followed the Decalogue, and thus, recitals of the Decalogue can be transferred from Red Truth to Gold Truth.]]* Actually, if we read the novels more accurately, we can notice that it is often said in red that "X goes against Knox's Decalogue!". But the other necessary logical step, "These events all follow Knox's Decalogue!" is never stated in red or gold. Therefore, we know that a number of things happen that run counter to Knox's Decalogue, but this might well be meaningless in the context of Rokkenjima of Knox's Decalogue isn't followed.** (OP here.) Precisely. How do we know that the Decalogue is '''absolute''' in this game? Until it is verified in Gold, [[color:gold:citing the Decalogue is fair game, and ignoring the citations of the Decalogue is permitted.]]

[[WMG: It's the servants]]Ok, this isn't as spectacular as many of the other theories on this page, and it's easy enough to poke holes in, but I'm throwing it out there anyway. We all know that Kinzo was obsessed with reviving Beatrice, and would be quite happy to sacrifice his family if he thought it would bring her back, but he's far too busy being dead to be responsible for the murders. This, however, doesn't stop him from leaving instructions for his furniture detailing the ceremony that needs to be carried out. Genji is repeatedly stated as being incredibly loyal to his master, and believing he would kill for him is not a stretch. Shannon and Kannon were both raised in an Uroshimiya-run orphanage and have been brainwashed to the point that they don't even see themselves as human. Getting them to kill and/or die for their master would not be hard. It's unlikely that Kumosawa is in on it, and Gohda almost certainly isn't, but the fact remains that three people working together, all possessing master keys and an intimate knowledge of the island, could explain many of the twilights. They aren't necessarily responsible for every murder, only the more ritualistic ones, with the more crazy/opportunistic family members capitalising on the deaths to eliminate a few loose ends of their own. They choose their victims at random, and if they themselves are selected (notably episode 3) then they offer themselves, confidant that the ritual will continue as their master predicted. Other theories can still apply (i.e. Shannon faking her death in episode 1 so she can continue the ritual - episode 3 apparently shows only five sacrifices are needed, Kannon giving up his identity in episode 2 and perhaps turning on the other servants etc).

[[WMG: Nanjo is the murderer for the Episode 3]]The first twilight is conducted by Nanjo. The reason is simple. Only servants, Krauss, Natsuhi, Nanjo, and perhaps Jessica know Kinzo is dead. The servants are dead. Jessica is with her cousins playing cards. And Natsuhi and Krauss are discussing the issue of who is actually Beatrice. He can only be Nanjo. In addition, Nanjo ensures appear just as they leave the meeting all the brothers. I suspect that Jessica helped. That and the mobile Nanjo I explain later.

The second twilight is also borne out by Nanjo. Nanjo was at the top of the stairs, so quietly he could accompany Rosa and Maria to give him air to the child. Once out of he kill them.

Nanjo leaves a cigarette in the room of Eva and Hideyoshi to throw suspicion. Kyrie falls into the trap. Nanjo follows Kyrie, Rudolf and Hideyoshi to the mansion and he killed them by treachery. Prepare all the stakes stuff and return to the guesthouse. However, Kyrie has only been hit in the stomach, so he is not dead, just lost consciousness from the shock. This is shown by the fact that Ronove refuses to confirm that all three are dead in red.

After finding the bodies, George is very upset and decides to go to Shannon for the last time. Nanjo sees out the window and close the latch of the window to hide that fact. Take advantage Natsuhi and Krauss are alone to kill them. Probably he first drug them or something, to not resist and then strangle them. He then goes to the room where the body of Shannon is and kill George.

In the last part, when they discover the bodies of Natsuhi and Krauss, Eva runs off in search of George. The number of the door should be a message between the murderers. That's why I suspect that Jessica is complicated as it is the other person alive who knows the secret of Kinzo. When Eva and Battler then run out after she that hurts Jessica, Jessica and Nanjo are left. Whoever shoots Nanjo is Kyrie, who regains consciousness and decides to kill the murderer to save Battler. Kyrie then bleeds to death. When Eva discovers Nanjo is dead, Eva concludes that the murderer must be Battler, and so kills him.

Now the mobile of Nanjo. Nanjo is silent on the death of Krauss for the simple reason that they need to pay an expensive operation to save his granddaughter. However, Krauss has already lost all the money in the family business, and the only money left on the island is gold. Nanjo discovers that fact on the day of the conference. The problem is you can not extract the gold from the island without anyone noticing, so your only option is to kill them all and then take the gold.

And about Eva-Beatrice... after the massacre happen, Eva feels very remorseful because: 1 - has killed Battler but then she doubt that he is the murderer, and 2 - In his heart he wanted the rest died to win gold medal. So believes the witch inside the murders committed in its place.

* I'd agree on Nanjo as the murderer, but would make a couple of changes:

** Nanjo didn't need to place the cigarette in Eva and Hideyoshi's room. Hideyoshi really was making an alibi for Eva, but it was while she searched for the gold instead of while she murdered Rosa and Maria - we got that part of the story in AnachronicOrder, and Kyrie was correct in deducing Hideyoshi was alone in the room. Eva just couldn't tell about the gold when she came back because she'd look guilty of Rosa's murder since she had no alibi.

** Kyrie, Rudolph and Hideyoshi were dead at the time we saw them (eight hours or so is an awful long time to survive bleeding out from a wound that looked fatal). The reason Ronove couldn't proclaim them dead in red was to draw attention away from the fact that Krauss, Natsuhi and George were also not proclaimed dead in red until after Nanjo's murder. Krauss and Natsuhi were killed by strangulation, which isn't really something that could kill them later to fit the red text if they weren't already dead. George was the one who killed Nanjo, then died of his wounds. He brought Jessica back with him to the parlour before dying. Jessica died there too from something that Nanjo had done to her (possibly even just giving her an [[ChekhovsGun asthma inhaler]] with nothing in it while she's having trouble breathing). When Battler accuses Eva of being the murderer, they're standing in the parlour, and the reason he's suddenly convinced it was her is that Jessica is lying there dead, with the only mark on her being where Eva shot and blinded her earlier. Eva, who's aware that for almost every murder she has no alibi, has been starting to doubt her sanity. Believing herself to have killed Jessica, and knowing that everyone else on the island is dead, she agrees when Battler says she must be the murderer, and kills him, a victim of temporary insanity.

** Nanjo's motive is that he's being paid by the Sumaderas. If all the Ushiromiyas die, Ange becomes the sole inheritor of the estate, the Sumaderas take custody of her, and the Ushiromiya fortune is theirs. Bernkastel makes note that Ange is always sick on the 3rd and never accompanies the family. She tries to justify this as being before the cut-off of Beatrice's game board, but the witches have been very cagey on whether everything is the same at the start of the games or not - the only other thing said for definite to always be the same is Kinzo's death. The real reason for this is that the Sumaderas arranged that Ange be sick. The number on the door of the parlour is the account number for the bank that had money for Nanjo's son. George somehow discovered what was going on, and painted the number there after he was injured. Regaining consciousness to discover Nanjo leading a blinded Jessica somewhere alone, he set out to save her.

[[WMG: The Siestas are/were/know [[{{Touhou}} The Prismriver Sisters]]]]* Not seeing the connection. Can you explain, please?** (Respondent here.) Why does my request for an explanation keep getting deleted?

[[WMG: Erika Furudo is a distant descendant of [[{{Agatha Christie}} Hercule Poirot]]]]Crime-solving runs in the family. Also, between the arrogance and the talk of "little grey cells", I found it easy to see her as a less amiable relative of Poirot's.* Impossible, she's clearly a relation of [[{{TheRedGreenShow}} Red Green]].* Objection: Her complete insanity means that she must be related to Professor Moriarty.** [[AceAttorney OBJECTION!]] [[color:gold:Professor Moriarty was not a detective!]] [[color:red:If Erika Furudo was related to him, she would be a criminal, not a detective!]] [[color:blue:You must have been thinking of SherlockHolmes, who was a detective!]]*** [[color:red:Being related to a criminal does not automatically make one a criminal.]]**** [[color:red:She would have been brought up in that kind of lifestyle, hence my previous statement.]] Besides, [[color:blue:she's not insane.]] [[color:gold:She's just a bitch.]]

[[WMG: EVA/Eva-Beatrice is [[IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream [=AM=]]] as a [[MoeAnthropomorphism cute girl.]]]]Let's see:* Imposes ironic, fantastic tortures on her victims, check.* Forces the one person who pisses her off the most into a FateWorseThanDeath, check.* Are beings of pure hatred, check.

[[WMG: Kanon and Shannon are murderers in the Episode 1]]The first twilight is conducted by Shannon. She shots the 5 ones, but her gun explodes and destroy her face. Then Kanon destroy the faces of the other to hide this fact. The original plan was likely to kill all adults, but because Natsuhi locked her bedroom and Eva and Hideyoshi were gone... they make the crime look like the sacrifices to revive Beatrice.

The second twilight is conducted by Kanon. He cut the chain, kills Hideyoshi and Eva while Genji or Nanjo draw the circle. Then the act like they didn't know Kinzo is dead.

The forth and fifth twilight were Kanon faking his dead. He just have to use red paint into his chest. Then Nanjo "certifies" his death. The Kinzo's corpse probably was planted before killing Eva and Hideyoshi. The reason that Kanon fakes his death is to been away from Natsuhi survillance and kill her by surprise.

The sixth, seventh and eighth twilight were realized by Kanon. He kills Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa. He is the "Beatrice" that Maria told the others about.

Regarding Natsuhi's death, she was killed by Kanon. He needs her to be separated from the group to do this. Probably in order to avoid Jessica being implicated. He separates her with the letter and shots her.

[[WMG: Kinzo is a child molester]]We know that Kinzo have a girl being locked in Kuwadorian. After she is dead, he tries to ressurect her. This "resurrect" means to seek for other childrens that look like Beatrice, make dress like her and the rape their. This is probably what might happen to Kanon and Shannon. We have the following clues:

* Erika proposes in Episode 5 that Natsuhi dressed up like Beatrice to seduce Kinzo.* Kinzo donates a lot of money to an orphanage.* He adopted a lot of this orphans as servants. Too suspicious for someone who locked up a girl all her life.* In Episode 2 it seems that Kanon is the "Beatrice" that repairs Maria's candy.* Kanon obsession of being "just furniture". Kinzo made something really gross to him.

Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa were the ones that take care of this child in Kuwadorian and were "her parents", because for Kinzo, Beatrices is her lover, not her daugther. Because Beatrice died and also because of the attitude of Kinzo, they look after for revenge. In fact, Genji, Kumasawa and Nanjo are the demons Ronove, Virgilia and Gaap who helped Beatrice.

However, Kinzo died before Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa could have a revenge. So they enforce their revenge on Kinzo's children, who probably knew about his secret. In fact in Episode 1 it said something like "Everyone knew the secret Kinzo's hobby". This could be his black magic hobby or... the things he done to the servants.

About Beatrice nature, she is the clamor asking for justice of all the orphans raped and abused by Kinzo with the consent of his children. That's why in Episode 5, when Battler reach the truth, he supports Beatrice.* Kanon and Shannon look nothing like any Beatrice. [[color:red:Due to Battler's sin many humans on Rokkenjima die.]]Thus, whatever the culprit's motives are they are centered around Battler not Kinzo. Also, if Nanjo, Genji, and Kumasawa knew about this, why didn't they tell the police?

[[WMG: Jessica's band isn't the only {{Touhou}} ShoutOut]]Other than Jessica dressed as [[CuteWitch Marisa Kirisame]] in her band, there are other {{Touhou}} references. The [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Siestas]] are all [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of [[EverythingsBetterWithBunnies Reisen Udongein Inaba]] and Gaap is an Expy of [[RealityWarper Yukari Yakumo]].* On the NINTH twilight, the witch shall be revived and none shall be left alive. Therefore, Beatrice summons the strongest and most intelligent furniture, Cirno, to finish off the murders in every game.* Going by this, it could be stated that the ultimate goal of the game is to crush the Hakurei border and bring Rokkenjima into Gensokyo. Where that island is going to go is a mystery unto itself.** And let's not forget that Lambadelta bears a striking resemblance to Flandre Scarlet.

[[WMG: The Golden Butterflies are nanomachines in blood stream reaching the brain.]]Kinzo, being a genius in the stock market, invested in nanomachine technology when he learned of his cancer, and secretly had a lab in the other mansion. Beatrice is the codename of the nanomachine project and the nanomachines were set loose by accident. The Golden butterflies illusion are a side effect of the nanomachines attacking the body. The Japanese government sealed of the island to take over the research. The pioneering work set by Kinzo's investment led to the events in the CowboyBebop Movie.* Clark's Third Law is cheating and not allowed, according to Lambdadelta.** I think you meant Knox's 4th. Besides, I did not mention that they were killed by nanomachines but rather that the golden butterflies they see at times are merely caused by the nanomachines messing up with their brains. *** I meant what I said. Anyway, things like nanomachines or drugs that cause hallucinations has been denied in Red. [[color:red:No such drug EXISTS. It must not EXIST.]]**** Only because it's forbidden by Knox's Decalogue! [[color:blue:I propose that Knox's Decalogue does not apply to Beato's game!]]

[[WMG: It is possible for information given in red to be objectively false.]]Because any given scene might just be a hallucination, we have no way of knowing that anything said was actually ever spoken. Do we have any way of knowing for sure that red text can't be hallucinated? For that matter, [[GirlGenius maybe this is all just some absinthe-fueled ]][[strike:[[GirlGenius scientific romance]]]] fantastic mystery nightmare [[AllJustADream Battler's having]]* No, it is not allowed for Battler's perspective to be hallucinated, falsified, misinterpreted, or otherwise wrong. As the Detective, the narrative is bound to make him reliable so that the player can construct the mystery. Therefore, Battler's perspective in the Meta-World is 100% reliable.** Except in [=EP5=]. when he's not the detective but Erika. *** Well, yes, on the Gameboard, atleast. Either way, the Meta-World can be taken at face value, due to it's role as a narrative device.

[[WMG: Erika can't detect her way out of a paper bag]]She's an actress, hired to put the screws on Natsuhi. Kyrie feeds her her lines.

Seriously, people like that don't exist in real life.* [[SayonaraZetsubouSensei Yes. How could a Great Detective, something I've only seen in fiction, possibly exist? She must be an actress!]]

[[WMG: [[{{Illuminatus}} There is no enemy anywhere]]]]Beatrice scapegoats herself to spare the family. Lambda is Beatrice's patron, and therefore complicit in her secret and terrible innocence. Bern talks a good game, but only seems to take actions that force Batter into a deeper understanding of himself. Dlanor is an unshakable pillar of moral character in a crooked world.

Hang on. We've no villains left; just a cast of actors in the make-Battler-a-better-person psychodrama.

[[WMG: Any letter claiming to be from Beatrice, that isn't checked against Maria's diary is a forgery.]]Maria claims she meets Beatrice everytime she comes to Rokkenjima. Furthermore, her diary contains a bit of Beatrice's handwriting. The message bottles and money letters contain the same hand writing, and thus it is reasonable to assume they were written by the person Maria calls Beatrice. On the other hand Maria initially mistakes EVA for Beato, meaning its likely that anyone could claim to be Beatrice and she'd believe them (unless they acted too differntly from Beato) and thus believe that anything they gave her was from Beatrice. To summerize, the money letters and message bottles were written by the person Maria meets every year, and everything else is written by another person or persons.

[[WMG: EVA is and always has been the BigBad]]The mirror that prevented Beato from regaining her powers was created to seal the various evil spirits on Rokkenjima. These spirits eventually fused into one being, the black witch/EVA. However, at that point she was only able to influence people, in order to be able to directly interact with the world she needed people to commit murder on Rokkenjima and thus manipulated the killer(s) into killing the victims.* ...Doesn't that go against the "No magic is responsible for the murders" thing? Also, what does this make Lambda and Bern?** It does go against "No magic is responsible for the murders", and is thus Pro-Fantasy. However, it is not inheriently Anti-Mystery, since it only attributes the killer(s) motive to magic, the actual crimes had to be carried out via mundane means.** As for Lambda and Bern, they are simply Voyagers. Lambda's position is Anti-EVA, as long as the games remain tied EVA will be unable to directly interact with the world. This is most strongly supported by episode 3 where any conclusive result would of lead to EVA's victory If Battler proves the culprit is human, then she becomes able to interact with world due to the above. If he accepts that the culprit is Beatrice, she becomes able to interact with the world since at that point she is Beatrice. Bern's position is Pro-EVA, if someone proves the culprit is human then EVA becomes able to interact with the world.

[[WMG: Maria is the mastermind, but she has an accomplice.]]* Motive: The FreudianExcuse taken to a logical extreme; Everyone knows of Rosa's abuse of Maria, but is either doing nothing about it or actively covering it up. And Maria found out about the cover-up. Maria, not exactly of sound mind, decides to exterminate the family that has betrayed her.* Opportunity: Well, duh.* Means: Ah, that's the rub. Maria lacks the size or strength to do it all herself, but someone has become TheAtoner in regards to Maria and is actively helping her, and that person is Eva. Her maternal instincts (coupled with her disgust with her relatives) convinces her to join Maria's side... sort of. Plus, Maria knows about black magic almost as much as Kinzo. * [=EP1=]: Eva is the one who put the bodies in the storehouse. Maria did all the rest. Eva gets second thoughts about it all so Maria disposes of the only one who could expose her. Maria is the lone survivor.* [=EP2=]: Eva bails on the plan from the onset, so Maria dispatches her as a part of the first twilight. Maria is the lone survivor, killing Rosa last when Maria's inner AgentScully causes her to realize her happy paradise with mama is only a fantasy.* [=EP3=]: Everything goes according to plan. Maria's death is faked. Compared to the other murders, Maria's is remarkably tame. Eva leaves the island alone while Maria stays behind alone.* [=EP4=]: Same as [=EP2=], except now Maria has access to a firearm and decides she doesn't need help afterall. Maria is the lone survivor.

* Then again, it could be a different person playing the role of Maria's accomplice in each episode.

* Maria is not Beatrice's piece. Beatrice is Maria's piece. Hence Maria's total reversal of luck between the first four games and the last two.

** It is confirmed in Red that Maria's deaths are never faked, and that she is not a murderer.

[[WMG: Beatrice's Game does NOT follow the rules of Knox.]]After all, it would be ENTIRELY within Beatrice's character to have the 'detective' be the criminal, considering that she is obsessed with revealing people's sins. In addition, she has ALREADY violated one of the rules, the one on secret passages. There was no way for Battler to discover the passage to Beatrice's Mansion, since the way was locked. Most of theories with Shannon/Kanon rely on violating the rule about doubles. Even the 'demon' trick violates that, if barely. * It's confirmed that this isn't a Knox game, but [[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit]] either way.** How do we know that Virgilia was talking about [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090610211718/umineko/images/e/ec/Battler.jpg this guy]]? Was it stated in Gold that she meant him? For all we know, [[color:blue:she could have been talking about the other Battler, whom Natsuhi supposedly killed in her backstory.]] * Excellent. This, however, leaves open 'mistaken identity' and such...Now, to go through a list of family members and verify THEY are not the culprit!

[[WMG: If this is a mystery, the servants MUST be the killer.]]Each of the servants perfectly lines up with one of the demons. The character sheets explain which. Thus, it seems reasonable that if this is a mystery, they MUST be the servants in disguise, otherwise there is no way to solve it. Admitedly, it is BARELY possible that Gaap is either Nanjo, or possibly Hideyoshi, since those are the two least-developed characters.* Definitely Nanjo. Hideyoshi can't "make evidence disappear" like Nanjo and Gaap can. This is, of course, assuming that the demons aren't just total allegories for non-living forces, such as guns, anyway.

[[WMG: Umineko X is the arc after the Good End.]]After all players reconcile, Beatrice gets revived, and Battler solves the mystery and finds the gold, he cracks open one of the ingots to find that Kinzo hid his stash in them. The entire family gets really baked, and he offers Beatrice a hit. While everyone's stoned out of their gourds, someone mentions a fun game idea they had and Beato agrees that it might be interesting; Bern mentions that she knew someone who might want to tag along...* To expand on this: Using several [=WMGs=] above, there are ten arcs, including ''Episode X''. In the ninth arc, Beatrice is revived in a way that merges the gameboard with the Meta-World, meeting the requirement that "At the ninth twilight, the witch will be revived and none will be left alive". Bernkastel reveals that she knew this would happen, using the magic of miracles to make sure that Beatrice would survive. She then explains that a)she wanted a good story, b)she was calling the audience out, or c)she was prodding Battler into action so that he'd solve the riddle. They then throw a massive celebration and Battler drops one of the ingots, cracking it open.

The only ones that you can argue with are delusions, hallucinations, and silliness, and you can make a strong case for them as well. This would be even more interesting if you are pro-fantasy, as it would make her a creator witch as well.

[[WMG: Maria has created the story]]Maria's powers as a creator witch are far outside her control. Note that she had drawn pictures of all the witches starting from the first arc. She could very well have created all the witches. If this was the case, truly defeating the witches would be done by causing Maria to deny the beings she created, just as her mother denied and destroyed Sakutaro. Not only would this be extremely, painfully ironic, it would also tie into 07ths use of decoy protagonist.* Makes sense if you completely overlook that the story has to do with something that Battler forgot he had done 6 years ago, when Maria was...three. She doesn't remember Battler at all, let alone some promise he had failed to keep. Still, it would make sense if Maria only created the first two arcs and [=AuAu=] had somehow found out about them and wrote everything afterwards.** It's possible for an action to affect someone indirectly, for example; [[color:blue: Battler did something six years ago that caused Maria's father to leave Rosa, causing her anguish. Furthermore Battler would not even have to be aware that he caused the breakup.]]** It's possible that we misinterpret the time frame the story takes place in, for example; [[color:blue: Battler is really Kinzo, senile and dying, and Maria is his wife telling him stories, distortions of their own lives, to coax the identity of his mistress out of him before he passes.]]

[[WMG: The are two culprits in the story.]]There's the true mastermind, the one behind at least the killings of at least [=EP1=]. And there's also [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi The Shion]] of the story, someone else who also go goes on a killing spree because of some form of trigger. Therefore, using every game as a means to determine the original culprit is foolish.

I suspect [=EP3=] is one of the red herrings, as it doesn't follow the epitaph past the first twilight, and Maria's death could be the trigger for somebody else's RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Though [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi The Shion]] is not necessarily Eva.

[[WMG: The previous game between Bernkastel and Lambdadelta was similar to, but distinct from the events of HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi.]]Yukiwatashi-hen reveals that Hanyuu looped the live's of multiple Rika, and Bernkastel's profile note's that she is also called "the witch who knows that miracles don't occur", yet she was somehow able to beat Lamdadelta. [[color:blue: Bern was killed by Rule X far more often then Rika was, because of this she decided that the best way to survive was to kill her friends (and when that failed her friends and random persons) before they could kill her. In her final arc the people she killed included Takano thus [[PyrrhicVictory winning the game]] without a miracle.]]

[[WMG: Some Red Truth is not the literal truth, but are instead metaphors.]]Let's play with this and return to the second twilight of [=EP2=]. When "[[color:red:When Jessica's corpse was discovered]]" was said, it could be meant the corpse made by Jessica was found there, not her actual body. Plus only Kanon is explictly stated to have been killed in Jessica's room in red, the same is not said about Jessica. Nor it is ever said two people died in her room in red. Taking all this into account, theoretically, the dead body found in her room could have been Kanon's, not Jessica's. Obviously, this thinking implies Jessica is Beatrice. And there are other ways to rethink the situations.

[[WMG: Battler's endless nine magic cancel is due to the charm Maria gave him. ]]Maria said the scorpion had the power to block magic. If the charm works, then that overlapping with or magnifying Battler's natural AntiMagic would result in this.* This might make a fun ChekhovsBoomerang. * Battler gives someone the scorpion* "Ha! No such feeble charm can block this! We will kill [indistinct], and then we will kill Battler! * casts spell* What the...?"

[[WMG:Umineko is an open-source MMORPG in the Higurashi universe.]]Witches are mods, and the Game Master is the server admin.Beato's server, Rokkenjima, was originally an RP-heavy Modern Horror game, but then she decided she wanted to switch to UrbanFantasy. She announced this, and it was generally well-recieved, until Battler started ranting at her about how you can't GenreShift in mid-story without anything in the plot to indicate that it was coming up. They argued about it on the fora for a while (and a few of the others agreed with him), until Beato tried to shut Battler up by giving him mod priviliges and basically saying "okay, you're so good at this, ''you'' tell a story" as well as a sternly-worded lecture on what would happen if he abused his new powers. Naturally, with two authors arguing over which direction the story should take, things started getting wierd. Beato recruited Rika to help restore order without having to revert Battler's account, and she brought along a few other characters (including Takano's old character Lambdadelta, now played by Satoko). Beato eventually wound up meeting Battler IRL and they hit it off. After a while, Beato started running out of ideas and got the mods together so that she could figure out an excuse to give someone the admin account.* Ooh, interesting! If someone actually made this IRL, I would so totally play it!

[[WMG: The Ushiromiya family are literal bastards.]]This is based on the fact that Kinzo has six toes. Given that polydactyly is actually a ''dominant'' genetic trait (odd but true), the chances that none of his four children would have it are one in sixteen at best (if he's homozygous polydactyl [two genes for it], the odds drop to about zero).

[[WMG: [[RepoTheGeneticOpera Rotti Largo]] is a descendent of the Ushiromiya family.]]Hello, rich old villainous man who hates his family for being weak and only wanting his money, extols the values of gold, and wants to punish the woman he loves for getting away from him!

There's no way Kinzo and Rotti aren't related. This makes even more sense if Beatrice actually was Italian; Rotti just reached back to his mother's(?) heritage.

[[WMG: Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice]]As we all know and love, Ronove is AmbiguouslyGay, to the point where he bleeds freaking rose pedals

WordOfGod has stated repeatedly that looking at the game through just the mystery angle will not allow you to solve it, suggesting that even the scenes completely laden with fantasy have some important hint, be it evidence or characterization. One of the strongest elements of Ronove's characterization is the absurd amount of HoYay and loyalty he has for Battler, who is much like a younger, less crazy-as-a-fox Kinzo.

[[color:red:In [=EP4=], it's said that Genji is a sort of vessel for Ronove in the real world.]][[color:blue:This means that Genji and Ronove should share some of their major traits.]][[color:blue:If Ronove is a mirror of Genji, then Genji should be gay and attracted to someone similar to Battler]], such as Kinzo.

This train of logic suggests that the reason that Genji is so loyal to the Ushiromiya family is that he's madly in love with Kinzo.

If we take this a step further [[CrackPairing (And sprinkle crack lightly)]] we can note that [[color:red:Kinzo is a big freaking Misogynist]] [[color:blue:that thinks the only use women have at all is making babies and serving men.]] He couldn't truly love a woman even if he wanted to. He doesn't respect them. Without love, there is no magic.

But Genji appeared in his life. Genji served him quietly, respectfully, and was a man who was proud to serve. Kinzo saw not just a servant, but a servant and a friend. Someone who would be there for him. Someone who wouldn't tell anyone if they did anything questionable. Someone who loved him in the same sinful way. [[color:blue:Someone who would wear a Beatrice dress and wig while taking it from behind.]]

Genji is Kinzo's Beatrice.

* So then by extension, Genji gave Kinzo the original gold?** Potentially, but just as it's been practically confirmed the existance of more than one Beatrice(i.e. the 'Beatrice' that Rosa met as a child), it's more likely that Genji was the Beatrice that came after that, the Final Beatrice. Well, I guess ANGE is the Final Beatrice in the meta-world sense, but in the mystery-world sense Genji is.* To further this theory, I'd like to add that Genji explicitly states in EP 1 that the person in Beatrice's portrait looks strikingly alike to his grandmother, but only with blonde hair instead of black.

[[WMG:Beatrice is related to the Ushiromiya family, and is the daughter of Chiyo and Kinzo]]When Kinzo made a deal with Beatrice the witch, Beato wasn't in existence at the time. Virgilia appeared before Kinzo disguised with the appearance of Beato. The reason? Virgilia was really Chiyo and at the time was in love with Kinzo. Since Chiyo looked a lot like Virgilia when she was younger, she did not want it revealed to Kinzo that she was really a witch. Therefore, she used the appearance of her future daughter in her witch appearance to hide it.

Kinzo was very interested in the legends of witches, and Chiyo, secretly being one herself, shared this same interest with him. However, Virgilia's human appearance was that of a servant, the Ushiromiya family looked down upon such relationships. Their relationship was covered well, however, one day Chiyo ended up being pregnant. Kinzo then arranged another hidden mansion to be built with his wealth. When the Ushiromiya family came for visits, Chiyo remained in the mansion, under the guise that Kinzo let his servant take a vacation somewhere off the island for a year.

Chiyo then had a baby girl. The both of them decided to name her "Beatrice" after the Golden Witch that gave Kinzo his wealth. Later on, it is somehow revealed that Kinzo had such an affair with a servant. The other children of Kinzo reject Beatrice to be a part of the Ushiromiya family, and thus she is confinded to the other mansion on the island (at least during family meetings) where Chiyo had stayed when she was pregnant.

Beatrice was very sad and lonely. All she wanted in life was to have a family, go to a school like the other children did, and make friends. Taking after her parents, she became very interested in magic. She began believing that it really existed, and thus Virgilia (the current Beatrice at the time) appeared before her. Then Beatrice became Beatrice the Golden Witch. However, the human Beatrice and the witch Beatrice were different in appearance, which is why Kinzo does not recognize Beatrice in the portrait to be the same person.

With her new powers, she summoned up furniture that would play with her and she was happy for awhile. However, when she became a teen, her joy slowly faded. She realized that furniture would do anything she wanted to do, but they weren't anything like a real friend. If anything, it was like "imaginary" friends that only existed in your world and no one else's. She then lost interest in magic until she became an adult.

During her time as a young adult, she was still confined to the second mansion during visits. The adults told the younger members (which at this time was Eva, Rosa, Kruass, Rudolf) when they were little that a "witch" lived in the forest so they would not venture off and discover their other sibling. However, on one visit, [[spoiler: Rosa had discovered the mansion as a teen.]]

She then met Beatrice, and it was unknown to Rosa but known to Beatrice that they were siblings. [[spoiler: Rosa without malicious intent, had accidentally killed Beatrice (which was her falling off the cliff). Rosa was then mentally scarred from that day on. She tried to "forget" the accident, and replaced the image of the human Beatrice she killed with the witch's appearance, thus making it to where she recalls the incident,]] Beatrice is seen as the "witch in the forest".

Rosa's trauma has led her to become neglectful and abusive to Maria. I theorize that she lost her previous job, she had to resort to becoming a prostitute. She would then face more abuse by her "pimp" and clients. She hid it under the guise that she was on "business trips" when she was gone for days because she didn't want Maria to know how exactly she made money.

But isn't the Ushiromiya family wealthy? If you recall, Kinzo had stated that all this children failed him because he wanted them to make their own wealth, not leech off of his wealth. Therefore, it is believed that Kinzo was very stingy to sharing his money with his family.

Rosa truly wanted the best for Maria. However, after losing her previous job, which is assumedly an office job of some sorts, the "bad witch that took over mommy" started to appear. Maria, being neglected her mom's love and attention and due to bullying at school had left her to become very childish. Maria would throw tantrums and have several imaginary friends, namely Sakutaro. The very child-like, almost "sheltered" Maria distinctly reminded Rosa of Beatrice, which [[spoiler: reminded her of the manslaughter she commited.]] This is why when Maria resorts to child-like tatics (having Sakutaro "speak" for her, Going "uuu!" all the time), Rosa flips out and starts hitting her to try to make her stop.

All this time as her human appearance, Chiyo was infuriated with the Ushiromiya family on the fact that they didn't even acknowledge her daughter. After all, it was not Beatrice's fault she was born, and she shouldn't have been treated like how she was. Chiyo, switching to her witch form, Virgilia, appeared before Beatrice. She promised to revive Beatrice, however she must remain a witch. It is unknown to Beatrice that Virgilia is technically her mother, but she agrees to follow the condition, based on the fact that in her human appearance, she was rejected, but in her witch appearance, she can take revenge upon the family that rejected her, and she would be both feared and respected by them. Virgilia chooses to make her agree to this condition because she knows that if Beatrice remains as a human, she would return to the gullible, stupid Beatrice, who would continue to be rejected by her family.

When it comes close to Kinzo's death, Beatrice must be the one to carry out the witch's epitaph since she is the new Golden Witch. This is the main reason why Beatrice has become so cold towards the family and kills them in the harshest ways she can think of, excluding Maria. To Beatrice, Maria reminds her of her when she was younger, so surprisingly feels sorry for Maria.

Maria, like her, was rejected the love of a parent (Rosa for Maria, and Kinzo for Beatrice). The both of them were loners and relied on furniture to keep them company. Maria also tends to show high respect for Beatrice, despite Beatrice violently killing her family members. When it comes to the epitaph, it would appear Maria is usually one of the last ones to die, and when she dies, Beatrice tries to make it painless [[spoiler: (such as strangling her).]]

This is why Beatrice takes Maria under her wing like a mother figure. Beatrice didn't have any other friends other than furniture when she was little, so she hopes Maria will be happy with an actual human for a friend. However, Beatrice had to lie to Maria about Sakutaro. The reason she lied is because if she revived Sakutaro, she knew Maria would become attached to furniture, and then learn that furniture was nothing more that figments of imagination in the future. Beatrice then made up the story that Sakutaro could not be revived because Rosa rejected him. Thus, this is why [[spoiler: Ange was easily able to do it and Beatrice's lie was seen as if Beatrice was a really weak witch.]]

Like Maria as well, Beatrice hates Rosa. She believes that Rosa was always hateful, and that [[spoiler: Rosa purposely killed her when she was a human,]] simply because she thought Rosa knew they were related and that Rosa hated her like Kinzo.

Beatrice thus became nothing more than a killing machine, finding creative ways to use her magic to take revenge on this family. Even though many situations revealed it was obvious that magic caused the murders, Battler refused to believe it, making her interested in him. Perhaps the reason she insisted on this game was to get in touch with the relative she never knew.

This is the reason why I believe she truly felt sorry when Battler got angry and left the game. She really wanted to play a game with her relative, even if the game included her twisted humor. It is then in my belief at [[spoiler: the signing,]] the Beatrice there was not the true Beatrice, but Virgilia in disguise, or perhaps furniture disguised as Beatrice. Virgilia, unlike Beatrice, does not want to show ANY mercy for the Ushiromiya, because the simple fact that she got involved as Chiyo was what caused so much pain to her daughter. Virgilia didn't want to go behind her daughter's back, but in order to get revenge on the family, she had to use whatever means as possible to get Battler to accept that Beatrice is a witch.* [[color:red: Knox's 10th. It is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues.]]** Furthermore, doesn't Virgilia also show up at the contract signing, along with Beato?

[[WMG: Virgilia is Pendragon-sama]]Virgilia is noted to be on good terms with many beings of different kinds and the Siestas have worked with the EVA, Goldsmith, the Eiserne Jungfrau, Cupid, and of course Beato.** Additionally, Pendragon-sama is implied to be KingArthur. What [[FateStayNight other series]] do we know that has a lot of magic and a female King Arthur...?

[[WMG: Beatrice and Virgillia are the same person]]Just a silly theory based on that one scene where Virgillia takes Beatrice as her apprentice. Just looking at the dialogue, it seems like one person named Beatrice talking in third person.

[[WMG: The first four games didn't follow Knox.]][[color:red: The opening for ''Turn of the Golden Witch'' claims it is not a mystery. And information from the first four games is treated as valid during ''End of the Golden Witch'' despite violating Knox's 2nd.]]

[[WMG: Battler was part of the conspiricy to hide Kinzo's death in every arc except the first one.]][[color:blue: It is possible that the first four games didn't follow Knox,]] and [[color:red:Battler isn't the detective in ''End of the Golden Witch''.]]* First statement demoted to Blue Truth. [[color:blue:I propose that the statements that "this is not a Mystery" and "No Knox, no Dine, no Fair" were an attempt by Ryukishi to MindScrew us. A recent statement he made regarding the Golden Truth]] [[hottip:* :(see the [=WMG=] at the bottom of [[WMG/UminekoNoNakuKoroNiUntranslated this page]] for details)]] [[color:blue:suggests that [[MindScrew Mind Screws]] are to be expected of him.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: The true number of people (excluding Erika) on the island is 20.]]]][[color:red: No more than 17 humans exist on this island!!]] [[color:blue:That statement isn't in decimal, but base 13.]] [[color:gold:17 in base 13 is equal to 20 in decimal.]] [[color:red: Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]] However, [[color:red: At one point Kinzo is shown saying that "6* 9=42" which doesn't make sense in decimal, but makes perfect sense in base 13, thereby satisifying Knox's 8th.]] [[color:blue:This allows three more people to be on the island. Furthermore, besides the people confirmed to be alive on the island, anyone mentioned in the first game can be one of the extra people and the culprit without violating Knox's 1st.]]* [[color:blue:6* 9=42 was a ShoutOut to ''[[{{ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]''.]] [[color:red:Douglas Adams does not write his jokes in base 13.]] [[color:blue:Ryushiki doesn't either.]]** [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] Prove that 6* 9=42 is a ShoutOut to ''[[{{ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]''! Give us evidence and we'll acknowledge it!

[[WMG: Piece!Battler was never the detective. Therefore, it is possible that he is the culprit for the first four games.]]Even though it's been confirmed that meta!Battler was the detective for the first four games via Dlanor, piece!Battler has no such barrier to prevent being the culprit. On the gameboard, he tries no harder than anyone else to find the criminal and solve the mysteries. [[color:blue:I propose that meta!Battler is the detective, which allows the possibility of piece!Battler to be the murderer.]] As for the red truth that "[[color:red:Battler-kun is not the culprit,]]" this can be explained is multiple ways - either that Virgilia was referring to the baby from 19 years ago, or, again, that this only applies to meta!Battler and not piece!Battler.* [[color:red:Meta!Battler did not exist during most to all of the duration of the first game.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, at least during that game's duration, it is impossible for meta!Battler to be the detective.]]** [[color:blue:Meta!Battler is Episode-One-1-Piece!Battler.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Shannon and Kanon were the murderers in Episode 1.]]]]As Kyrie pointed out, it's easiest to see your opponent's moves in the endgame when there simply aren't many possible moves left. So, working from the end:

When Natsuhi was killed, Battler, George, Jessica and Maria were locked in the parlour. Red text confirms Eva, Hideyoshi, Kinzo, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Genji as dead at the time, leaving only Kanon and the people of the first twilight as suspects.

Red text for Kanon tells us he was either killed by a trap or faked his death since [[color:red: "no kind of human or dead person on the island could have killed Kanon!"]] and [[color:red: "Kanon did not commit suicide."]]. Of the people killed at the first twilight, we only know that [[color:red: "Regarding unidentified corpses, all of their identities are guaranteed. Therefore, no body double tricks exist!"]], which doesn't allow fake corpses, but [[color:blue: ''does'' allow someone to ''pretend'' to be a corpse. Shannon was hidden right in the back of the shed, and Kanon was the one who controlled the time at which the shed was discovered. By telling about it in front of the kids after a morning wondering where everyone was, and then having everyone run off, the kids were made suspicious enough that they'd follow before anyone could properly examine all the bodies. Since Shannon was right in the back, she most likely didn't get more than a cursory glance before the kids arrived and everyone became more preoccupied with preventing them seeing and closing up the place than making sure they were all dead.]]

In short, if Kanon and Shannon were responsible, they faked their deaths in such a way as to draw suspicion away from them, in line with clues we were given to satisfy Knox's 8th, and with their faked deaths, everything else falls into place.

With Shannon's faked death, the second twilight locked room is easily solved with Shannon locking the door from the inside and hiding in a closet. Kinzo was most likely placed in the furnace at Natsuhi's orders, and Maria was most likely responsible for the magic circle of paranoia. The only remaining question is why Nanjo would say Kanon was dead.

This also means that at the time the first game ended, Battler, George, Jessica, Maria, Shannon, and Kanon were alive - the six people at the first tea party.* Not just dead, but that the stake had gone in and pierced his lungs. He was pretty darn specific about it. [[color:blue:This theory basically requires him to have been in on whatever Kashnon were doing, at least in the beginning.]] He does die in the later twilights for the first, second, and third games, if we assume that he was also in on it in the second game and was hiding or something when he was initially proclaimed dead. The fourth one is a little bit more ambiguous.

[[WMG:[[color:blue:Even if someone is declared to be the detective in red, it is possible that he or she is acting under Knox's 9th rather then Knox's 7th]]]] [[color:red:When Battler accused Knox's 3rd of allowing the detective to be lazy, Dlanor clearified that it didn't literally rule out the existence of secret passages, but that it instead ruled out the existance of secret passages the detective couldn't find. Therefore, it is possible to misinterpet the decalogue if one interpets it literaly. Furthermore, according to the original Knox's decalogue, Knox's 7th only applies if the author personally vouches for the detective.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: regardless of what color someone else may use to proclaim X is the detective, X is only bound by Knox's 7th if the author (i.e. "Maria Ushiromiya"/Beatrice or Featherine depending on the arc) or the Game Master (by virtue of the premise that that Game Master creates the story) claims that X is the detctive.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika was right about Natsuhi sleeping with Kinzo.]]]][[color:red:According, to Battler's Blue Truth the name "Kinzo" refers to the head of the family.]] [[color:blue:Since the original Kinzo died before Battler solved the ephitat that would make Krauss the new head and thus the new Kinzo.]][[color:red: And of course there isn't anything shameful about Natsuhi sleeping with her husband.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Kinzo died far earlier then we've been led to believe.]]]][[color:red:The only time Kinzo has been confirmed to be alive in red was in 1967.]] [[color:blue:I propose he died shortly after Rosa's Beatrice died. The reason no one would mistake someone else for Kinzo is because they already know he's dead, or they've never actually met him. All of the adults and servents (besides Gohda) have been covering his death for Reason X. The subplots that rely on some of the adults believing Kinzo is alive are completly made up by Beato and Lambda in order to troll Battler.]]* {{Jossed}} by [=EP5=]. It's stated in the story that Kinzo died in 1985, just before that year's family conference. Some time before the ''October 4, 1986'' of [=EP5=], it is mentioned that Krauss and Natsuhi were unsuccessful in completely fooling the relatives, as the other siblings plus Kyrie got suspicious concerning Kinzo's absence from the conference, as he was never seen, though the servants and Natsuhi were all saying "''he was just here''" or "''he's in his study, but he's in a bad mood''", the latter is used to play on the siblings' knowledge of Kinzo's temper, and so is used to deter them from going to the study to verify Kinzo's presence. That's why each arc after [=EP1=] had the siblings demanding to see him. "''Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.''" The siblings weren't going to let them "''fool me twice''".** [[color:red: My argument states that all of those scenes are false. Knox's 9th. It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and interpretations be heard.]]*** (Respondent here.) [[color:red:Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented!]] If you would say in Red that the time of those scenes were falsified by the application of Knox's 9th, then I will have you provide evidence to support your theory that those scenes occurred earlier than they were said to!**** Very well. [[color:red: Beato stated in red that, Kinzo died instantly. Beato's definition of instant death requires the victim to be murdered. Therefore, Kinzo was murdered. In the scence where Nanjo pronounces Kinzo dead there is no evidence that Kinzo was murdered.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, that scence is false.]] Hold on...* eyes widen* ...I resign.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:We have been misled about Kinzo's Time of Death, but it happened more recently then we thought.]]]]As shown above the scence where Kinzo is pronounced dead is unreliable. Furthermore, [[color:red:as far as we know Natsuhi is planning on saying Kinzo has gone missing once Krauss recovers from his financial troubles, ]] [[color:blue: having Kinzo's corpse some place it can be found can only hurt Natsuhi's chances of success.]] [[color:red: If Kinzo died over a year ago Natsuhi and the others would have had plently of time to dispose of his corpse. His corpse is found in various episodes.]] Thus, [[color:blue: Kinzo died shortly before the start of the game, in fact his death could very well mark the start of the game.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika wasn't the detective during the fifth game]]]][[color:red: Furudo Erika had no influence on any of Beato's games before now.]] From this we can conclude that [[color:blue:Erika was not the detective during the first four games.]] Furthermore, [[color:red: Battler was required to provide human proof that he wasn't the detective during the fifth game.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, in order to prove that Erika was in fact the detective during the fifth, human proof must be provided. In other words the Red Truths claiming she is the detective are inadmissible.]][[color:red: Note that Knox's Rules never say there has to be a detective.]]* One small problem. "''[[color:red:Detective's authority. ......The detective has the right to inspect all crime scenes. Stand back, Battler Ushiromiya. This is an official right of this game, which the human side has acknowledged.]]''" If Erika was not the detective, she could not have used that to remove Battler from her path.** [[color:red:Knox's 2nd: It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]][[color:blue:The very fact that she used the red to move Battler proves she isn't the detective.]] *** Well, technically, Erika doesn't use the red; Bernkastel uses it for her.**** (1st respondent here.) [[WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Wrong, sir, wrong!]] When Battler refuses to let Erika enter the cousins' room, she says that Red and Battler gets thrown out of her way. As the 2nd respondent was kind enough to remind me, Knox's 2nd forbids such things. But, she wasn't using the Red for her deductions or to help solve the crime, she was using it to remind Battler of her right as the "detective" but I still agree that Knox's 2nd kills such a move.** [[color:red:Erika is simply stating that the detective has the right to inspect all crime scenes. ]][[color:blue:She is ''not'' actually asserting that the is the detective.]]***** Read the TIPS again. It says that Erika has no power to use the Red, due to being a human, but she has the benefit of the Red. Bernkastel is the one using the Red, but the words are coming from Erika's mouth. Still, nothing guarantees that Knox's rules actually apply.****** (1st respondent here.) Watch [=EP5=] again. When Erika tries to enter the cousins' room to inspect the scene, Battler stands in her way. Then Erika recites the Red Truth I originally posted, and Battler is lifted up (by nothing at all, I might add) and flung out of her way. Also, funnily enough, no one questions the fact that Battler was just thrown aside seemingly by words.******* Again, as stated, the words come from Erika's mouth, but it is Bernkastel that makes it Red Truth, according to the TIPS. Citing the scene I'm explaining doesn't mean anything. As for no one questioning anything, this is because they're pieces on a board, and thus are subject to the will of the Game Master.******** (1st respondent here.) I knew that bit about the Game Master's will, I just figured said Game Master (Lambda) should have paid attention to the fact that such a thing would seriously wow some humans IRL.********* I honestly don't think she cares. She and Bern are, in Virgilia's words, "scribbling on the gameboard."

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Erika is Bernkastel's literal daughter.]]]][[color:red: The similarities in their appearances is uncanny, and Bern even calls Erika her daughter at one point.]]* Who is the father, then?** [[color:blue: Keiichi would be the obvious choice, but I'm going to [[HomosexualReproduction go]] [[CrackPairing with]] [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Chie Rumiko]]]]** [[LesYay Lambdadelta.]] [[AWizardDidIt They are witches,]] [[HomosexualReproduction therefore it is entirely possible]] and [[YouFailBiologyForever regular rules of biology need not apply.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Battler was still the detective in episode 5]]]][[color:red:When Dlanor challenges Battler's claim that he isn't the detective, he points out that he claimed to see Kinzo, produced a corpse, and said]] [[color:gold:I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse!!]] [[color:blue:However this doesn't prove anything at all because Battler's Blue Truth "My theory is that Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head!",]] [[color:red:was never countered. Furthermore, even if we assume that the corpse he showed didn't belong to someone else,]] [[color:blue:he never established when Kinzo died with human proof.]] Furthermore, [[color:blue: even if Kinzo was dead when Battler claimed to see him it's possible that Battler mistook Kinzo's corpse for a living Kinzo.]]* You can't use the red to propose speculation. Furthermore, none of that implies in any way that Battler is the detective. It still doesn't change that Piece!Battler had a "conversation" with "Kinzo", invalidating his point of view.** [[color:blue: In order for that conversation to invalidate Piece!Battler's view point, it must be established that Kinzo was dead by that point in time using human proof!]]*** Not at all. It's already been supported in Red and Gold Truth. We have an absolute guarantee that Kinzo is dead before the game even started.**** [[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]]***** [[color:red:Dlanor made the same objection to the red truth. For whatever reason, the gold truth overrode it.]]****** [[color:red: True. However, that Gold Truth only proved that Kinzo was dead.]][[color:blue: Unless his time of death is also proven to be prior to the time Battler claims to have had a conversation with him , it is possible that they did have that conversation and thus Battler's status as the detective was never actually disproven. Again, human proof or Gold Truth must be used to establish this.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:The game didn't follow Knox.]]]][[color:red:It was never stated in]] [[strike:red]] [[color:red:Gold that it does]], since it would be a contradiction for the wicth side. [[color:red:In the 5th game, most of time the rules are invoked just the rules itself are stated in red, not the conclusion.]] [[color:blue:This don't mean nothing, since it would oly tell us about the rule, not it connection to the game.]] Battler's objective was never to prove the games are a mystery(trherefore following Knox), but just prove it was not a fantasy(that is it, there is no magic in it). All these use of the rules are just Erika and Bern using InsaneTrollLogic to confuse him.** Let me come with an alternative (which might be conflicting with other information, has only read ep 1-4 and if it doesn't work just ignore me).The Knox rules is only required with the mystery side, i.e. Battlers side. In the games he is extremely limited in his theories since he has to come up with suggestions that work without magic. The magic side isn't limited in the same way since they pretty much only have to say ''this is how I did it with with magic''. So to sum it up Battlers is trying to make the game a mystery (which is what Knox rules is about) but Beatrice is trying to prove that it is a fantasy (which Knox isn't about) and so Battler (and the readers) who tries to prove the mystery side is restrained by Knox while Beatrice isn't.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: It is possible to reconcile the fantasy scences with the idea the culprit must be a human using mundane means.]]]][[color:blue: Summoned furniture cannot do anything that would result in something that would have been impossible had they not been summoned. This includes both physical and psychological impossibilites. For example, Jessica and Kanon really did die in the way shown in episode 2, but Culprit X was in a position where he/she could and would have murdered them. Furthermore, in every case Culprit X knowingly summoned the furniture.]]* In English, please. I don't see where the WMG part is, since it was pretty obviously established that the magic scenes are metaphorical.** Basicly what I'm saying is that the magic scenes happen more or less as shown, but that magic requires the user to be willingly and able to perform mundane actions that would lead to the same result. For example, in order to use magic to kill Kanon one must be willing and able to kill Kanon without magic. This allows us to accept the fantasy scenes at (close to) face value while still allowing us to find a human culprit. Thereby, allowing us to have the best of both the Anti-Fantasy and Anti-Mystery views.*** This doesn't really work. Such as, well, almost all of Episode 4.**** I'm not saying everything shown in a fantasy scence has to be achievable by mundane means, just that the end result has to be. For example, in order for the George vs Gaap Battle, and the Jessica versus Ronove Battles to happen. The culprit must have some mundane way to acheive the following, 1) having George appear in the arbor with a gunshot-like wound to the head, 2) have Jessica make the call to Battler, and 3) have Jessica appear in her room with her head half destroyed. There doesn't have to be, for example, a mundane way to make George and Jessica kill eachother. Also, note that this theory actually makes the culprit weaker then a pure Anti-Fantasy perspective as he/she/they could mistakenly target someone who has one of Maria's charms using magic. Or are you saying that there is something that definitly happened (i.e. either confirmed in red or witnessed by piece!Battler) that can't be explained via mundane means.***** Most of the magic scenes are so dissociated from the reality of events that they literally can't be "more or less" proper counterparts for the mundane events, and indeed some scenes might be entirely falsified with no mundane counterpart. For instance, how about Shannon's resurrection in Episode 3?****** If she was the murderer, then presumably, she faked her own death. Battler didn't see the corpses himself - the aunts and uncles did. That scene could be George finding out that she's still alive, then both of them promptly being killed by someone else.******** And how about the "loser flags" scene in Episode Four? And Shannon and Kanon having a Spirit Particle Jamming fight with the Siestas?********* Regarding the "loser flags" scene, Krauss beat the crap out of someone who his trying to kill him and the others. Unfortunatly, that person wasn't the only culprit.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: The scene where Natsuhi and Beato drink tea together was genuine.]]]][[color:red:In Episode 2 there were no more then 17 people on the island, and Beato gave the keyto the chapal to Maria. However, Beato claims she isn't one of the seventeen on the island.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, Beato is not counted as a person. The statement,]] [[color:red: "After all, Natsuhi is drinking tea all by herself right there."]][[color:blue:simply means she wasn't drinking tea with another person, it does not rule out the possibility she was drinking tea with Beato, who is not a person.]]* It hasn't been stated in red that Beatrice was the one who gave the key to Maria, so this doesn't work. Even if such a statement had been made, "Beatrice" refers to the human culprit. Ontop of that, while Beatrice may not be a human, she is still a "someone".** Regarding the key, Beato says, [[color:red:"The key to the chapel truly was the object inside the envelope I gave Maria."]]*** Does "I" refer to Beatrice herself, or the human culprit she represents? Does "I gave" even indicate an objective position of "Beato gave Maria the letter" or does it simply indicate the letter that, in a Fantasy Scene, came from "Beatrice?" Either way, the thesis of this WMG doesn't really work out.**** The point I was trying to establish is that Beato claimed she was on the island, yet claims she isn't one of the seventeen and thus would have left room for herself in the count if she counted as a person. Your're later question is basicly invoking Knox's 2nd against the Red Truth about the key. In which case, [[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique.]] [[color:blue: If you would claim that Natsuhi was drinking tea alone you must present human evidence to support that claim.]]***** [[color:blue: No one gives a shit about Knox's rules.]]****** [[color:red:Knox's Decalogue, while not absolute, is a valid standpoint.]]******* [[color:red: Only if we have reason to believe the Decalogue actually applies. None of the legitimate Gamemasters had acknowledged it as anything worthwhile, and our only reason to believe it has any worth is because of Erika's and Dlanor's insistence.]]******** [[color:red: Beato noted that Knox forbid secert passage, and claimed that she followed that rule. Also, it is implied that Battler used Knox to solve Beato's game. Therefore, we have reason to believe Knox applies]]********* [[color:red:My Red Truth regarding the Decalogue applies to its existence as absolute rules, that every event has followed to the letter. It is not absolute, but it '''is''' a valid perspective, and thus the rules can be cited in Red without any problems. However, to establish the Decalogue as absolute rules, the current Game Master,]][[hottip:* :Battler as of the conclusion of [=EP5=]]] [[color:red:and '''ONLY''' the Game Master, must state in Gold that the events of the game follow the Decalogue.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Some of the poems shown in Higurashi were written after the events of Umineko, and are written to refer to events in both series.]]]][[color:blue:For example, this poem also refers to Battler's sin.]]

-->Do you know what your sin is?-->It isn't because you ate the forbidden fruit.-->Do you know what your sin is?-->It isn't because you listened to the serpent.-->You still don't know what what your sin is?-->Then, that itself is your sin.

-->-Frederica Bernkastel

* [[color:red:This is plausible. It is currently unknown if ''Umineko'' was in the planning stages when that poem was written.]] [[color:blue:However, it might just be a coincidence.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika loss the fifth game due to the early suspension.]]]][[color:blue: The various abillities her detective's authority grants her only work if the game actually finishes. For example, someone could have been disguising him/herself, but the clue or clues indicating that appeared after the game was suspended and thus Erika didn't have the chance to see them. Likewise, Knox's 3rd doesn't gurentee that the detective will find any secret passages she looks for, but rather gurentees the she'll find any relevent to the mystery by the end of the game. Thus for example, she may have found some piece of evidence impicating Shannon in the crime had the game not ended early. For that matter, Natsuhi may have been the fourth twilight victim.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Knox's 2nd is just an excuse.]]]][[color:blue: The real reason characters began demanding evidence to support the red is that they realized that it could be worded in a misleading way.]] For example,[[color:red:Natsuhi isn't the culprit.]] could refer to someone who isn't even on the island.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:The Ushiromiya Eva we know is not the true Ushiromiya Eva, but an imposter.]]]][[color:red: Near the end of Alliance of the Golden Witch, Ange proclaims in red that her ''entire family'' never came home from Rokkenjima.]] [[color:blue: At some point prior to meeting Hideyoshi, the real Eva spent a substantial ammount of time away from her family, met someone with an extremly similar appearance and the same given name and told this person a great deal about herself and her family. However the original Eva died somehow and this new Eva took her place.]] Since she isn't really part of the Ushiromiya family Red Truths referring to the family do not include her.* Given the emotional context and the Red Truth's established unreliability, it's more likely that "Ange's family" refers to her direct relatives: Rudolf, Kyrie, Batter.

[[WMG: Regarding piece-Beatrice]]

[[color:purple:Beatrice]] [[color:gray:(1) is|(2) is not]] [[color:purple:a member of the Ushiromiya family. She]] [[color:gray:(1) is|(2) is not]] [[color:purple:a half-sibling to the other Ushiromiya siblings, with Kinzo as father and Rosa's childhood story Beatrice as mother, and an unnaturally similar appearance to her mother. In every episode she]] [[color:grey: (3) comes|(4) doesn't come]] [[color:purple:to the family conference, but doesn't appear since]] [[color:gray:(5) some characters' actions {(5.0) manslaughter|(5.1) murder} |(6) a fatal accident]] [[color:purple:kill her early during her stay on Rokkenjima. The servants, in any case, aren't allowed to let the other siblings know about her death.]] Just because she's a mean bitch doesn't mean she's the culprit whenever she shows up.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: X games does not mean X worlds.]]]][[color:blue:There are two worlds involved in each game. A mystery world in which everything was done without magic, and a fantasy world in which somethings (i.e. atleast everything shown to be done with magic) were done by magic. Battler and the readers never actually see the Mystery worlds, but the Red truths refer to them. Furthermore, Beato deliberatly chose to show Battler Fantasy world's which would give him the neccesary information to figure out what happened in the Mystery world's without actually knowing those worlds existed.]]* [[color:red:This is plausible.]] I wouldn't be surprised if this was '''canon'''.* The braun tube argument of [=EP3=] is a very strong support of this theory. In fact, one possible solution is that [[color:blue:Umineko exists in a 'space' where both the fantasy world and the mystery world exist.]] Due to Battler's anti-magic power, however, his presence(And in Game 5, Erika's) prevents the existance of magic in his presence. This makes the two worlds akin to two pieces of paper side-by-side, able to move freely with differing events, with Battler acting as a pencil lanced through both pieces of paper, forcing events in his vicinity to remain very similar, but the farther away from his anti-magic power, the more the two worlds are allowed to differ.** One reason Beatrice wants Battler to win is because [[color:blue:if he loses the Mystery World will be blown away and cease to exist, leaving only the fantasy world]]... a world in which she's a sadistic witch that has lived for a thousand years in cruelty and will live for a hundred thousand more. She wants Battler to win and destroy her for the sake of her own heart.

[[WMG: Shannon and Beatrice are both alternate personalities of Kanon's.]]Prepare for TL;DR.

First off, this isn't exactly a new theory, but I don't see a formal entry for it, and especially not one as indepth as what I'm about to provide.

The basic premise also has a twist. Although the current Shannon is a product of Kanon's invention, Shannon was indeed a real person up to a certain moment in time. Shannon died for some reason (perhaps falling from the rocks when she went to break the mirror as per her deal with Beatrice, maybe she fell off that cursed fenceless cliff of doom people keep dying on, maybe she fell down the stairs in a tragic Dojikko fashion. Ultimately irrelevant), and her death was recent enough for Shannon's and George's romance to be entirely sincere. I would wager that her death happened after the formation of the romance, a few months before October 1986. Most importantly, her corpse was preserved and stored somewhere.

Kanon recreated Shannon in his mind because he couldn't bear the depth of his onee-chan, and although he couldn't see the sea past its greys, she could see its blue. This new Shannon is a sincere personality, carrying on her life. Kanon is so dedicated to preserving her existence that his own self only came out for his servant's duties, causing him to become the depleted, repressed "furniture" we see today. He runs from his love for Jessica because he doesn't want to jeoprodize Shannon's future with George.

The Servants may or may not know of this; they surely would've noticed something was up, and it's not the first time they covered a death. Besides, there's no malice, and they surely miss sweet Shannon too, so what harm is there in letting this "magical resurrection" go on? Then again, they might also play into the charade for fear of awakening the ire of the Witch...

Which brings us to Beatrice. Born at the same moment as "Shannon", of Kanon's resentment that Shannon had to die. Of Kanon's resentment that she couldn't live for Battler to fulfill her promise. That she couldn't live to be "human." Beatrice represents this resentment, and thus she is sympathized with the tragic, caged witch of Beatrice. Like Beatrice, Shannon couldn't see the world save for the blue her magic showed her. Like Beatrice, no one came to save her. Like Beatrice, she has to use the magic of lies to keep existing. And like Beatrice, she may have died on the rocks while yearning for freedom. And now...the only way Beatrice can be free, the only way Shannon can be free, is if she dies like she was meant to. Kanon's insistence on their existence is like trapping a ghost. An unpleasant half-existence.

Is it not telling that Shannon has seen the Golden Land, which can only be visited through death? Lord knows Kanon can't be the false personality. Not only is it red that no one can take his name, but there is just no way you'd bound up those ginormous tits.

Is it not telling that Kanon and Shannon not only have magical powers when almost no other real human does, but they're also "furniture" like Beatrice's magical servants?

Is it not telling that only Kanon and Shannon can see Beatrice prior to the start of the Games, due to their being on the same "wavelength?" Yea, I fucking thought so. Though Maria can see Beatrice, one could argue this is just Beatrice being the dominant personality. What is clear is that Kanon, Shannon, and Beatrice behave like typical "headmates" of a Multiple system.

Most tellingly, in my opinion, is that at the Tea Party of the First Game, we have the children who lived to the end, Beatrice, and Kanon and Shannon. Why the hell are they there? Sure, you could argue that it's because of Jessica's and George's wish, but then why exclude Rosa? The reason they're there is because Beatrice is there, and they're all parts of each other.

How can we work this into the specific Games? Let's see:

First Game: Shannon's death in the first Twilight is simple. The Beatrice personality just appropriately mutilates and places the Shannon corpse, and then suppresses the Shannon personality from doing anything. Simple enough. After this things get a bit tricky. What about Kanon's death? Perhaps he may have have a Battle In the Center of the Mind with Beatrice, and she won out. After this, Beatrice fakes Kanon's death, and perhaps Nanjo is an accomplice. He's also necessary then for placing the letter that gets the servants and Maria kicked out of Kinzo's study. Beatrice then swoops in and kills the servants, and later Natsuhi. Beatrice may also be responsible for the message in a bottle.

Second Game: Simple. Kanon's death is reconciled by Kanon's personality being suppressed, and Beatrice takes control of the body. The Fake Kanon scene is effectively Beatrice revealing herself and forcing the servants into cooperation under penalty of death. When they report to Rosa, it's Beatrice speaking through Shannon's mouth, and she's threatening the servants to collaborate with her story, to both support the magic narrative and clear Kanon's name. After this, she drags off George and Gohda and kills them, then dumps the Shannon corpse. Beatrice proceeds to clean up the rest of the murders, throws out the message in a bottle, yadda yadda.

Third Game: Shit gets messy here. Beatrice carries out the First Twilight, dumps the Shannon corpse, and then fumbles and accidentally gets themself killed. The Dojikko curse. After this, Eva Culprit theory kicks in, but this doesn't explain Nanjo's death, does it? Well, I kind've found it suspicious that Krauss and Natsuhi's corpses are removed and unfound. Perhaps Eva-Beatrice dealt with them, but Natsuhi was still alive albeit injured? She knows she has to stop Eva, but she instead comes across Nanjo and an injured Jessica, and assumes that Nanjo is an accomplice. We know that mental stability isn't her thing.* OP Here. Actually, after reviewing some facts, I'd like to amend this. [[color:blue: Eva is not the culprit of Episode 3, and the entirety of Eva-Beatrice is a complete red herring.]] Eva is actually completely innocent, though she falsifies aspects of her alibi so she could investigate independently, or even check on the gold. Kanontrice faked her death with Nanjo's help again and carried everything out, framing Eva. This Beatrice is the one who kills Nanjo.** [[07151129 = July 15/November 29. Battler's birthday, and the day Shannon died. Battler's sin. This would of course pin Shannon's death as almost a year ago, which is workable.]]

Fourth Game: It's safe to assume that atleast the Beatrice personality is aware of where the gold is. She could come forward and present this similar to the Second Game, and proclaim herself as the new family head, and thus the new Kinzo of Goldsmith. Beatrice kills the First Twilight victims, kidnaps everyone else, etcetera. She has them say what she wants over the phone via threat of violence as usual. She visits George disguised as Shannon and kills him. She visits Jessica disguised as Kanon and has her say what she wants on the phone, then kills her. She gives her beloved Maria a beautiful death as usual. Pretending to be an escaped Shannon, she gets the key from Gohda, gets into the shed, kills them, and locks it back up. Battler was unable to verify that the key was still on Gohda's person, after all. Beatrice kills the kidnappees where they are, has Kyrie say as she wants under threat of violence, then puts out the Shannon corpse. Now Beatrice takes on her own appearances, tests Battler, yadda yadda. Unsatisfied with his answer, she commits suicide in Kinzo's study. What kills Battler in the end? A bomb rigged up beforehand that goes off at the tenth twilight.

Fifth Game: I'm so not even touching this due to how much Lambdadelta and Bernkastel utterly fuck with the game. Though the implication seems to be that Kanon and Shannon switch regularly and Beatrice never emerges.* [[color:red: There are five master keys, one for each servant.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: If Shannon and Kanon are the same person at the start of the game an as of yet unseen servent must be on the island.]]** Simple. [[color:blue: Kanon and Shannon, as alternate personalities, count as separate servants. If Krauss and Natsuhi are not aware of Shannon's demise, Kanon can still be collecting her payroll and still have her master key.]]*** [[color:red: It is never/not yet stated no one can take Shannon's name and identity.]] [[color:blue:It is also implied that a "Person" refers to a body, currently alive and functioning, not the spirit of a human being or furniture. For example, at one point in arc 3, the disembodied spirit of Kanon helps Jessica move to safety. Since he is dead, and not in a funtioning body, he is not technically "human", and does not count as one on the island at the time, even though he does, indeed, have the soul of Kanon. Therefore, even this "Shannon" would be counted as a seperate person, and therefore furniture, than Kanon.]]...And to the second one... As said before, [[color:blue:Even if they did know of Shannon's death, they still most likely wanted some sort of extra help around the place, and most likely even shared some sort of bond with her, so they didn't report the incident to Kinzo, hoping he wouldn't notice anything strange going on with her.]]** [[color:red: Kanon was killed in this (Jessica's) room (in the second game)]] [[color:blue:There exists no evidence that killed has ever meant anything other then Murdered.]] [[color:red: unless you can provide clues in the story that killed can mean one's identity was suppressed and that killed can be something one does to them self, knox's 8th renders your argument invalid.]] * [=EP6=] makes it pretty obvious that Kanon and Shannon are the same person, and hints strongly that s/he is also Beatrice. (See "Kanon is Shannon", up near the top.)

[[WMG: Gaap represents Natsuhi.]]What is Gaap's role and power? She disposes of corpses to create Closed Rooms, hide times of deaths, and such like that.

What is Natsuhi's biggest secret? She covered up Kinzo's death and burned it in the furnace to hide how long ago he died.

On top of that, neither of them wear the One Winged Eagle, and oddity for both sides. Ding ding ding! Winner.

[[WMG: The "[[ChessMotif chess]]" game they're playing isn't actually chess, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa Arimaa]].]][[http://arimaa.com/arimaa/ Arimaa]] has some similarities to chess and it can be played using a chess board and chess pieces, but it's definitely not chess. [[http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/flash/vs/new/ Watch this tutorial]] and think of the people on the game board as Arimaa pieces instead of chess pieces and see if it makes sense to you.

Oh, and before you bring up the Knox rule about not solving the mystery with clues not presented; 1) This doesn't exactly solve the mystery, and 2) in the beginning of the 5th game, when Battler was re-examining Beato's old moves it was mentioned that the game looked like chess at a glance, but when you looked closer it wasn't like any chess game or something (sorry if I wasn't very articulate in stating this wmg but it's 4:30 am) * In EP 6, there's also mentionings of "not-chess." Battler also comments about pushing and pulling back.

[[WMG:[[color:blue: At the end of the game the players have a minute to make any last minute arguments or counterarguments.]]]]Furthermore, from our perspecitve the endgames seem to last much longer then a minute.[[color:blue:However, despite appearances, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction talking is not a free action.]] The reason the endgames clearly last much longer then a minute is because whenever a player makes a move time gets added to his or her clock, much like "fixed extra time" in chess.]]* Additionally, Time moves differently in the Meta-world, as evidenced by the way that they can stop a scene. Presumably if they shut up for a while time will keep moving, so they have to keep arguing to maintain the hesitation of time, which is another reason for their battles to be so desperate.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika can see dead people.]]]][[color:blue: Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head! Therefore, as long as someone in the Ushiromiya family is alive Kinzo is alive.]] [[color:red:From 24:00 until morning, a living Kinzo could only have existed inside Natsuhi's bed. Furthermoe, Natsuhi is pure and faithful.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:a living Kinzo can't exist and the whole Ushiromiya family is dead, this includes Ange and the Other Battler. Since Erika sees several members of the Ushiromiya family she is able to see dead people.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Natsuhi isn't pure and faithful.]]]][[color:red: Knox's 2nd. It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique. Erika deduced that a living Kinzo couldn't exist outside of Natsuhi's bed, and used that as a basis to question Natsuhi's faithfulness. Battler countered by presenting his grandfather's corpse. However, I can construct a theory in which Natsuhi had sex with a different "Kinzo".]][[color:blue: Kinzo's name is passed on as the title of the Ushiromiya family head! Therefore, as long as someone in the Ushiromiya family is alive Kinzo is alive.]][[color:red:When Erika searched for Kinzo, the only Ushiromiyas whose locations were unknown were the people whose bodies had gone missing. Krauss was dead by that point in time, and Erika had used her seals to confirm the location of the others during the night.]] However, [[color:blue: one of those people may have been someone disgusing him/herself as someone else.]]* [[color:red:Knox's 10th. It is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues.]]** [[color:red:In the second game we saw Jessica cosplaying as [[{{Touhou}} Marisa Kirisame]] Furthermore, {{Touhou}} was released in 1996 and thus Jessica couldn't have gotten the design from Touhou.]]Therefore, [[color:blue: she must have gotten the design from the actual Marisa, and if Jessica can convincingly cosplay as Marisa the reverse is also true. Therefore, the "Jessica" that was with the other cousins that night is actually Marisa disguised as Jessica and the real Jessica was in Natsuhi's bed. Given Jessica's age and the fact Natsuhi goes so far as to act like she beleives everyone when they tell her Jessica is dead. We can conclude that [[ParentalIncest Natsuhi and Jessica had sex.]] Furthermore, the majority of episode 5 was Natsuhi trolling Erika.]]*** [[color:red:The timeline of ''WhenTheyCry'' does not match ours in terms of when media is released (see Higurashi)]]. [[color:blue:''{{Touhou}}'' was, in the ''WhenTheyCry'' timeline, released in the early 1980s or before.]]**** [[color:red: Umineko itsef was released far earlier in the WhenTheyCry timeline, then it was in our universe (i.e. the message bottles, and Featherine's stories). And of course, the events of Umineko are atleast partial based on actual events within WhenTheyCry-verse.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:any media released in the WhenTheyCry timeline prior to its release in our timeline is based on actual events that took place within the WhenTheyCry timeline. Therefore, Marisa exists and is capable of disguising herself as Jessica.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Battler's theory about Kinzo's name is incorrect.]]]][[color:blue:Everyone at the family conference was shown Kinzo's corpse and recognized the existence of the late Kinzo.]]* Alternatively, everyone recognising the existence of Kinzo doesn't actually imply the existence of Kinzo at the family conference. [[color:blue:Krauss agreed to the rest of the family's demands in return for them recognising the existence of Kinzo.]]

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Ange's timeline in the fourth game is an illusion.]]]][[color:red:Due to Battler's sin, everyone on the island dies.]] [[color:blue:Therefore, it is impossible for Eva to have survived. That was an illusion crafted in order to create Meta-Ange and deliver clues to Battler.]]* Technically, the line is [[color:red:Because of your sin, people die.]] There's no Red Text guarantee that everyone must die.** From the novel: [[color:red:Due to your sin, a great many humans on this island die. No one escapes, all die.]] So actually there is a red text guarantee.*** That still doesn't necessarily mean anything. The Red can be wrong depending on interpretation. It's going to have to be proven wrong anyway when the ending rolls around (There's just no way we're not getting a happy ending here, let's face it).*** That particular red text referred to the gameboard of Episode 4. 1998 Ange was from the Episode 3 gameboard timeline, and no red text prevents that Eva from surviving the island.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Atleast one scene, in ''End of the Golden Witch'', involving Kinzo, depicts Kinzo's character with absolute accuracy.]]]][[color:red:No corpses exist except those of characters who have appeared in the story.]] And, [[color:gold:I guarantee that this corpse is Ushiromiya Kinzo's corpse...!!]] [[color:blue:If every scene depicting Kinzo misrepresented him, then Kinzo never appeared in the story, and thus his corpse couldn't exist.]]* No duh. We've seen flashbacks of Kinzo back when he was alive, dude.

[[WMG:Amakusa is the baby that Natsuhi wanted to adopt]]Beato stated that it would have taken a miracle for the servant and the baby to have survived falling off the cliff. Who's to say Bernkastel didn't do her thing? We never get a confirmation on his age. Maybe he's 31 and is just [[OlderThanTheyLook older than he looks?]]** With the screenshots for [=EP6=] revealing we're returning to 1998, and Juuza will be focused on at least a little bit, This Troper is leaning closer and closer to this theory.*** Read Amakusa's profile again. The man's gone through Special Forces training, time in the JSDF, time in the French Foreign Legion and has become so good at his job that he's become renowned as a specialist. Realistically, he would have to be in his late-twenties at the very least so thirty-one wouldn't be implausible.**** Would just like to mention that the "Battler is Amakusa" theory could also tie in here, what with Battler's theory about the fifth arc.

[[WMG: The X person from 19 years ago.]]* The gender of the baby has not been declared in red, therefore in can be either male or female. Even if Natsuhi gets a call from a male claiming to be the son, the reader has no proof of the babby was actually male to begin with.* It is stated that Shannon came from the same orphan house as that baby.* Shannon's age has not been revealed.** Shannon is stated to be 16 in the first game.* Battler's birth circumstances are in question, even his theory is that he's actually the person from 19 years agoThere are actually two people that fit this criteria properly, Battler -and- Shannon, Jessica might count as well if you believe that she's Natsuhi's child althought there's no red for this either. Considering Natsuhi's mental state, there is still a possibility that the guilt caused her to love -another- adopted child as her own.

In other words, we have 3 people in the same age group, two of 'em have special birth circumstances and the other one has a parent with mental issues which might serve to put their birth circumstances in question.* I'm getting this from a spoiler page on LJ and as such, it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it appears to have been revealed in EP 6 that the Battler we know is Kyrie's son, who was given to Asumu, while the one Asumu had was given to Natsuhi.** If so, then that still leaves the door open for Shannon and Jessica -- and tangentially, Amakusa, but that's an incredibly long shot it can hardly be considered.*** Only way Amakusa could be considered is if his name is also Ushiromiya Battler (the first one) and when the red states the number of people on the island, it counts the two Battlers as a single person -- but this is so silly, so lets just move on.**** Amakusa as the second Battler (introduced in [=EP5=]) would be interesting, and would give semi-credibility to the "Amakusa is Battler" [=WMG=] on the main [=WMG=] page for ''Umineko''.

[[WMG:The remaining Siestas are not bunny girls.]]When Maria received the rabbits a lot believe the Siesta sisters are based on, she didn't just receive those rabbits. It was a whole forest band of different animals. There were about 20 in all. Just the four were rabbits. The remaining are all sorts of other {{Half Human Hybrid}}s. So when they started referring to the other Siestas in [=EP6=], those are the rest of the forest band! We're going to see CatGirl Siesta, Dog Girl Siesta, Rooster Girl Siesta, Tanuki Girl Siesta (My, that one will be interesting), etc.!

[[WMG: Maria's deaths...]]* 1st game: Alive near the end (died 9th twilight?)* 2nd game: Alive near the end (died 9th twilight?)* 3rd game: Died on the 2nd Twilight (after Eva-trice took over)* 4th game: Died on the 9th Twilight (one of the last to die, one of the more peaceful deaths)* 5th game: Died on the 1st Twilight* 6th game: Died on the 1st Twilight

Notice a pattern? When Beatrice is in control Maria doesn't die until the very, very end (9th twilight, if at all), but when Beatrice loses control Maria is always a sacrifice in the following twilight.

I believe this pattern may be relevant

** Moreover, from an interview with Ryukishi: *** If you fully understand the world of Umineko, then you would find that this is an additional element pertaining to Beatrice. Without the meeting with Maria, there wouldn't be this present Beatrice as she is now. To Beatrice, Maria is an existence she cannot belittle; moreover, she is a crucial element in creating the "present Beatrice". So just talking about the plot of the story alone, the meeting between Maria and Beatrice at least causes some chemical reaction to the world of 1986. ** It's relevant, but I'd just toss in that the detail about the jawbone in the first arc, although it doesn't necessarily indicate her death, indicates something relatively brutal, unless it's faked.** But wait? Are we sure that she was ALIVE when her body was separated? Also, don't forget the theory that there is a landslide. That would explain the difficulties with the body.*** OP here: The point isn't that she survives the game, but that she makes it to the point at which the game ends; the 9th twilight during which "none shall be left alive." I posted this pattern because I had a theory (still do) that Maria is Beato (although there may be more than one person taking that name), and needed a place to keep the evidence, I chose here because even if I was wrong it would probably still be useful to someone.*** [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike How the heck did I post this without remembering it and why did I put it on the Untranslated page?]] I had a hypothesis that Beatrice is an alternate personality of Maria and possibly a few others, but I just used it as an example.

[[WMG: Sakutaro is coming back]]Because the Black Witch knew the Deep Magic From the Dawn of Time, which is written in letters as deep as a spear is long on the fire-stones on the Secret Hill, but she does not know the Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time: that when a willing victim is killed in a traitor's stead, then Death itself will start working backwards.* [[IKnewIt Called it!]] (Why do only my joke guesses come true?)** There's only one question Battler (and Ryukishi by extension) didn't answer. How is Sakutaro there if he was destroyed by Rosa (as [=EP4=] shows) some time before the trip to Rokkenjima, sending Maria off the deep end and down the road to becoming the CreepyChild we all know and want to hug? And no, Ange giving Maria the Sakutaro she found when she went there in 1998 doesn't work, as that was after the fact. However, that does create an interesting Blue Truth. [[color:blue:I propose that in the world of [=EP6=], Rosa didn't drop the new Sakutaro, and gave it to Maria off-screen, possibly before they arrived on Rokkenjima.]]

[[WMG: Beatrice is a title and not a name, so therefore [[spoiler: the Beatrice in the first five arcs can be revived]]]].The red truth is usually quite open to interperitation, so saying [[spoiler: Beatrice can't be revived]] in red text may refer to the title of Beatrice, which [[spoiler: Ange]] is said to be the final [[spoiler: holder of]]. If this theory is correct, then the possibility that [[spoiler: Ange, after dieing in the meta-world, would be the last holder of the title]] would be a true statement.* Confirmed. [[BigDamnHeroes Beato crashes Erika and Battler's wedding.]] I'll let you figure out the details.* Virgilia also was previously known as Beatrice, before she passed it on, as Beato has passed it on to [[spoiler: Eva-Beatrice and Ange]] and it is highly likely from the background that we have seen that Beato might have had a name other than Beatrice before she became a witch. Because the name is passed on, and former holders of the name assume other names, it's highly likely that "Beatrice" is in fact a title.

[[WMG: Furudo Erika is headed for an AlasPoorScrappy.]]She's supposed to be Bernkastel's game piece, but we've seen how Bernkastel has been acting lately... And despite being a complete [[{{Ptitleutvwuc2h}} Bitch In Sheep's Clothing]], she also clearly ''fears'' Bernkastel and being ignored... Then there's the scene after [[spoiler: her first VillainousBreakdown where she begs Bernkastel to acknowledge her, and Bern responds by ''striking her down and possibly altering her memories'' just to shut her up]]. She's going to crash and burn, and it's ''not'' going to be pretty.* Confirmed. Bernkastel reveals that although Erika most certainly did wash up on Rokkenjima, she was already dead when she did, as she drowned at sea. Not the kind of death I'd wish on her, the bitch.

[[WMG: Beatrice (or at least the meta version of Beatrice) exists because of Battler's sin.]]Correct me if I am wrong, as I am not entirely knowledgable in Japanese and am partially basing this on word of fandom, but it was stated at one point in [=EP6=] that six human years is the equivilant of a thousand witch years. Battler's sin was six years ago. Beatrice has supposedly lived for "a thousand years". Get where I'm going with this? Let's run on the wild presumption that whomever meta-Beatrice supposedly represents (be it Jessica, Shannon, or the theoretical "third Beatrice") did not always start out imagining Beatrice. Let's assume that Battler's sin caused some sort of traumatic event to one of these three. This girl coped with the trauma by creating an imaginary friend whom she could confide in--and this friend is meta-Beatrice.* This is as close to confirmed as you can get without it being explicitly stated.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: Higurashi was a solitaire game]]]]In the sixth game, Lambda said that Bern used to be the piece of an incompetent game master who lost sight of her goals and created a logic error. The incompetent GM forced Bern to repeat events over and over in order to find a solution, and Bern escaped by becoming a witch. But in the second game, Bern said that she was born from "Lambda's game". Also, Lambda wrote in her diary that she had tried to help a girl who "wanted to become a god", and that girl created a new witch for her. There was no indication that Lambda was competing with someone as part of that process.

[[color:blue: The only way to reconcile this information is if the "incompetent GM" was Lambda herself. Then, since both Bern and Takano were Lambda's pieces, she wasn't playing against anyone but herself. In that case, even Hanyuu was one of her pieces, which implies various things about Featherine...]]

* It's entirely possible that Featherine was Lambda's opponent. It certainly seems like Hanyuu was her piece, or something.** We don't know. But right now, we do know that Bernkastel was Featherine's miko. In other words, she was reading Featherine's story, just like Ange in ep6. *** The GM was Hanyuu, she started the game resurrecting Rika, but she stopped playing until the last Kakera.** It's also possible that Featherine is a character invented by Lambda to be her opponent. After all, Meta Battler was Beatrice's piece originally, but that didn't stop them playing games with each other.

[[WMG: A line of thought on the solution to Episode 6]]An Ep. 6 recap:

'''A plot:'''\\Battler, Erika and Kanon walk into a room.\\One person leaves.\\Battler and Kanon are no longer in the room.

'''B plot:'''\\Three hours of smacking you in the face with: ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* ''Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice are the same person!'' * smack!* \\Then Shannon symbolically kills her other identities and reintegrates them into herself.

It's not hard to see how B can be used to resolve A.

The window seal in Shannon's room was never checked. Only the seal on Kanon's room was confirmed. This is obfuscated until it is proven that only Kanon could save Battler.

Kanon was never in his room, of course. But Erika never looked, and the red text bends over backwards to avoid enumerating the contents of the room. Shkanontrice shimmys down the wall and enters the guest room as Kanon. He rescues Battler by their clever trick. Shannon reaches the climax of her parallel plot. Kanon simply... dissolves.

Erika and Shannon are still in the guest room. But Erika never thinks to ask ''how many'' people are in the guest room. In her eyes, it can only be magic.

[[WMG:[[color:blue:Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are/were/will be [[{{Digimon}} Digidestined.]]]]]][[color:red: There exists a Digimental of Miracles, and a Digimental of Destiny. Furthermore, every Crest shown corresponds to a Digimental.]] [[color:blue: Therefore, every Digimental in the Digimon anime must have a corresponding Crest. No human could exhibt the traits neccesary to earn the Crest of Miracles or the Crest of Destiny. However, the Witch of Miracles and Witch of Certainty would certainly exhibit those traits.]][[color:red: Every Crest shown belongs to a Digidestined.]] * This is the best theory ever. Who are their Digimon partners?** I'm not sure, but I would guess Black Gatomon for Bern, and I have no idea what Lambda's would be. Someone, with a more comprehensive knowledge of Digimon then me, would probably be able to provide a better answer.

[[WMG:The closed room that produced the logic error in [=EP6=] is not referring to the Guest Room but to the entire Mansion]]If we reread all the red texts concerning the Guest Room closed room. The term Closed room is not directly appointed to the guest room.As this troper sees in the beginning of the sixth episodes, there is a puzzle in which the solution is to put one inside another.What if the real closed room is the mansion and the guestroom is a closed room inside another?* Your spelling needs work. I cleaned it up for you. As for your theory, [[color:red:it is plausible.]]

[[WMG:Okonogi is the Mastermind but not the culprit]]Okonogi is cited in the first game. He could easily get any pressure method for almost any characters of the game. What if he is using that to make people do things they are not supposed to do (e.g. Natsuhi in the closet in the Guestroom)?* Yeah, Okonogi is the mastermind, and Gohda is the culprit, he constricted his fist, and the whole island exploded. True story.

[[WMG:Younger Beatrice is weak against Mirrors because they reflect whom she really is.]]If you take the whole theory that Beatrice=Shannon=Kanon, it also explains why Beatrice had Shannon destroy the mirror in the shrine. A mirror will reveal the true body regardless of the personality in charge -- doing so breaks the illusion of the witch on herself. Once the mirror was broken in Ep2, Beatrice became more powerful because there was no way to break the illusion in her mind. It also explains why Beatrice couldn't harm Natsuhi properly in Ep6 until she dropped the mirror. * Even if you don't take the multiple personality theories as true this still works! Even from a meta perspective, since she's really a Human she has the anti-magic toxin that comes from her eyes and is probably reflected by mirrors.

[[WMG: The story does not actually take place in 1986.]]Some people have noticed things that they believe hint at the gameboard being a story told between the characters, with the metaworld usually being a warped representation of the real world. If this is true than the metaworld doesn't need to be in 1986. If it's not set in 1986 then when is it set? Probably 1992, 6 years after the gameboard's setting, after all if Beatrice is using the story to remind Battler of his sin it has to be set in the time period he did so, and since they say he sinned 6 years ago if the story isn't set in 1986 it must be set 6 years after the sin that took place in 1986.

[[WMG: Lambda's true goal...]]Bern, listen.

I will seal you in this Fragment, through your own pride at being unable to accept a loss. So that you may hurt no one else.

You may now hold the game board though the manipulation of that monster, Featherine, but I hold the trump card.

Battler and Beato will never give up. You will never make them surrender. I guarantee it on my name as the Witch of Certainty. No matter how much you twist this story, you will not win.

Beloved~, you will not leave until you rediscover love.

* Where's this from, I wonder? Sounds interesting.

[[WMG:Beatrice will eventually end up marrying every single Ushiromiya.]]Suppose Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are all the same person. In that case, Beatrice is involved with each of the cousins (as Kanon with Jessica, as Shannon with George, as Beatrice with Battler and with Maria in the Mariage Sorcière). Let Eva get too stressed and EVA-Beatrice appears. And of course, Kinzo was completely obsessed with Beatrice. All we need now is for Natsuhi and Kyrie to get in the act and every single Ushiromiya will either be Beatrice or be married to her.

[[WMG:In [=EP6=], Battler was a terrible Game Master.]]The events of [=EP6=] were not due to Erika being a supergenius or detective or anything. The fault, really, lies mostly due to Battler not just holding, but ''juggling'' [[IdiotBall idiot balls]]. His biggest mistakes, from minor to major:** Letting Erika have the duct tape in the first place.** Letting Erika get away with taping his room and not tell him until it came up, when he made the rule that she would have to tell him immediately when she was applying the tape.** Letting Erika out of his sight on the gameboard long enough to let her kill 5 people without him knowing until later.Of course, it's been shown that Battler, while terribly clever, isn't always ''smart''.* To be fair to Battler, 1) The first point was him letting his heart get the better of him, and 2) the second two points are the fault of the Game Master not being an omniscient being.** (OP Here) Of course, this brings up another question... if the Game Master ''isn't'' a an omniscient being when it comes to the happenings and going-ons of the island, or even the opposing player's happenings and going-ons... what ''are'' their powers?*** And what about everything being planned in order for the "miracle" in the end of ep6 to happen? Just like Kinzo is always doing, and there is a lot of comparison between Battler and Kinzo since ep5. Well, if it is not the case, yeah, Battler is really stupid and incompetent. Basically, he was playing in the witch side like a detective, repeating everything, etc, and it can not work.**** Actually...

[[WMG: It is implied that Battler planned everything out in [=EP6=].]]Not only does it make the story much more coherent, but Lambdadelta, someone who knows the entire truth, praised Battler for his "logic error", saying that he surpassed Bern as one who created miracles instead of waiting for one. And if there's a solution to it, then it wasn't really a Logic Error. It was all a Xanatos Gambit to force Beato to revive. He even goes so far as to awkwardly say, "Oh, if only the real Beatrice was here. She'd think of a solution in no time flat." And later, everyone is waiting for Beatrice to show up, to the point of calling her late! To say nothing of the Kinzo parallels of Battler trapping himself in an eternal locked room, pushing all his chips on one space to revive BEATORIICHE.* This is awesome and I want this to be true.* You are my new favourite person, and I love you from the bottom of my heart.** Gosh, guys, thanks for the praise. Makin' me blush here. On that note...

[[WMG: Lambdadelta is actually Good.]]She understands the rules of the game, which means she has Love, and she even says "if you love me, my words should be as Red Truth." The only reason she doesn't give Battler full support is because she wants to keep Bernkastel "glued to the tube" so to speak, so she needs to prolong the game. But when Battler's taking a dive, she shows genuine concern. Not to mention all the theoretical pieces she has on the board, such as Sayo, are hopeless romantics with rose-colored lenses. Her reasons for all this is to make Bern see love, and only then is she allowed to leave the Game. Plus, isn't it the perfect contrast? The Rika expy is totally evil, so logically the Takano expy is...well. Yea. However...* Not to mention that while she did help lock Battler in [=EP6's=] logic error, she seemed to be wholly and completely sympathetic towards him. Sure, she's given her fair share of trolling to Battler... and Bernkastel... and Erika... and Beatrice... But GoodIsNotNice by a long shot.** Help lock him? I don't think so. She was just as surprised when Erika revealed what she did, but it's not that she helped seal him away: she had no choice. She held the position of an impartial judge, and after Erika's move, Battler couldn't find a way to make the two threads of truth connect, and thus a logic error was created. She has no authority to overrule that, unless Battler(or someone else) can come up with a theory to fix the error. As an impartial judge, she could not make a theory herself.

[[WMG: Beatrice(s) is a typhoon(s)]]Fun fact. In 1947, there was a typhoon that passed through the sea of Japan, though it didn't actually hit the country. What was it's name? Beatrice. It was also the 19th typhoon of the year. Coincidence? I think not. We also know that Umineko is a separate universe from the real world with minor historical differences like Higurashi is, so perhaps the rules can be stretched here. Perhaps that typhoon did hit Japan. And, well...there were rumors of an Axis ship that was smuggling illegally obtained Nazi gold to hide which got sunk...perhaps the typhoon shipwrecked it and Kinzo found the gold? It helps that when Rokkenjima is hit by a typhoon that Kinzo declares, "You're late, Beatrice!" Out the window, then claims to give the ring to her by tossing it out into the storming sky.

[[WMG: An attempt to solve the first game]]First twilight: The culprit first took the key to the garden shed, went around the main mansion, killed the first six victims, dragged them into the garden shed, locked them up, drew the magic circle and then returned the key to the servants' room.

Second twilight: Hideyoshi and Eva were poisoned. The culprit was able to switch Hideyoshi's jar of bathing soap with an identical jar of poisoned bathing soap. (This doesn't violate Knox's 4th as there are many well known organic chlorine compounds whose vapors are toxic to humans in even the slightest amounts.) After the culprit made sure that both of them are dead, he used a strong magnet to undo the chain lock on the door to Eva's and Hideoyoshi's room, entered the room with a gas mask on his face, opened the windows to drain the room of the toxic vapor, switched the soap jars, staked the bodies, and then exited the room, locking the door in the same way in which he unlocked it. Once again, he drew the magic circle on the door.

Fourth twilight: The culprit hauled Kinzo's body from the fridge to the incinerator;

The letter: Maria dropped it on the table;

Final three twilights: The culprit entered the parlor, and used a special crossbow to fire the poisoned stakes, one by one, at Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa in that order; He then quickly ran out of the parlor, leaving behind in it Maria and the bodies.

Natsuhi's death: Shot by the culprit using one of the spare Winchester rifles.

Battler, Maria, George and Jessica died in the explosion.

Let's start looking for the culprit through the process of elimination; We have

Kinzou is dead from the start, and in one of the later games, it is stated that neither Battler nor Maria are culprits (applies to all games); Therefore, we can eliminate them from the suspect list; Among the first twilight victims, only Krauss and Shannon didn't have their faces bashed in completely; The second twilight is impossible to fake; A red truth from episode 4's ???? states that Genji, Nanjo and Kumasawa really are dead, and that neither one of them is a murderer. Another red truth from episode 4's ???? states that Natsuhi was murdered; Therefore, she cannot be the culprit; All of the cousins were trapped in the parlor when Natsuhi died, so Jessica and George cannot be suspected; Another red truth from episode 4's ???? states that the identities of all the unidentified corpses are guaranteed and that no body double tricks are possible; That rules out all first twilight victims, and we're left with...

There is no 19th person on the island. (Including Kinzou's corpse) This means...

...wait [[FlatWhat what.]]

* Second twilight couldn't work that way, since from the fourth game we have red text about that twilight saying that "[[color:red: ..the murder was carried out with both the victim and the perpetrator in the same room! No method exists for the perpetrator to commit murder from outside the room!]]"* The fourth game red text guaranteeing the identities of corpses doesn't guarantee that anyone they think is dead is in fact dead. Although there is red text that will guarantee Eva, Hideyoshi, Kinzo, Kumasawa, Genji, Nanjo and Natsuhi had died, and although Battler, Maria, George and Jessica were trapped in the parlour at the time of Natsuhi's death, there is nothing in the red text preventing Rudolf, Kyrie, Krauss, Rosa, Gohda, Shannon or Kanon being alive at that time if they had pretended to be dead earlier. As any of the first twilight victims would still need someone outside to let them out, and as Kanon's red text only allows the options of "faked his own death" and "killed by a trap", Shannon and Kanon seem the most likely culprits.

[[WMG: Kanon is Kinzo.]]This could be true regardless of whether or not Shkannon(trice) is true, so we'll leave that variant aside.

Kanon is the only servant, hell the only person period that Kinzo tells to solve the Epitaph. While Kinzo has been dead, Kanon did meet him, and it's already theorized that fantasy!Kinzo's dialogues happened in the past when he was still alive. (And if Kanon is Beatrice, he sort of has to know where the gold is anyway.)

Kanon finds the gold, inherits the legitimate headship and Kinzo's name, and everyone must acknowledge it in [=EP4=]. Cue Goldsmith shenanigans. It also allows for the filling of the [=EP6=] Closed room Logic Error. "Kanon" isn't in the guestroom anymore, he's "Kinzo" now. That, and this all allows Kanon to be with Jessica without having to deal with the ire of her family. Hurray!

[[WMG: Erika is Beatrice is Jessica.]]We've all heard Jessitrice, so we can leave that aside. We also know that Erika doesn't exist, but that she must in some form due to the Red. The solution most-often speculated is that "Erika" is a sort of ball that's passed around as necessary, meaning it's a title assumed by the appropriate character. In this case, I'm assuming it's Jessica. Not only are Erika and Beatrice thematically contrasted, but everyone compares Erika and Jessica. Not only that, but Jessica is pretty much a non-factor whenever Erika's involved in multiple ways. Jessica's already been speculated to have split personalities by Battler himself, and Erika dissolves into gold Beatrice-style when she dies, satisfying the Epitaph by "sleeping forever" by the game's own text! Ontop of that, this can explain why Kanon was necessary to save Batter. If Jessrika met Kanon, she'd probably go sane from whatever's making her effing kill people and generally being a monster-bitch.

[[WMG: All of the Fukuin children are Beatrice candidates.]]Whatever Kinzo wanted from Rosa's Beatrice, he didn't get it. She was like Battler's Beatrice of [=EP6=], an innocent child that had the looks, but not the soul. Thus, when she died, he quite obviously continued trying to revive her. He also started adopting servants from the Fukuin orphanage. We know that someone was going around doing pranks to make the Beatrice legend more believable, and we also know all the Fukuin children were given false furniture names. Perhaps Kinzo (and Kumasawa) were teaching them "magic", such as the furniture of false, maintainable identities, and teaching them basically how to be Beatrice. Shannon/Shkannon may be the "winner." Which would be ironic if this was triggered by Battler.

[[WMG: [[color:blue:Erika's last red truth in the 6th Game and the Following Red Truth do not contradict each other]]]]This ties into the Shannon=Kanon theory. Basically, Erika's red truth was [[color:red:I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!!]] The red truth that followed was [[color:red:Even if you do join us- There are 17 people.]] If we take the word "human" to mean anything that can be classified as a human (even a corpse), and the word "people" to mean number of pieces living (or assumed to be living) on Rokkenjima, then both statements can be true, and it could very well add evidence to the Shannon=Kanon theory.

[[color:blue:Shannon + Kanon = two separate people who happen to share one body.]]* [[color:red: In most cases, including this one, 'human' and 'person' are derived from the same Japanese word in the translation, so trying to make a semantics argument that they're different doesn't work.]]** The person above shall no longer take any part in this game. [[strike:Speaking anything but the truth in red shows that he has no respect for the rules and is therefore not qualified to play.]] Erika used "人間", Battler/Beato used "人". The Witch Hunt translation is correct. Interestingly, "人間" can also mean "character" or "personality" ...*** Oh, shit, I was totally thinking of a different--nevermind, I ballsed up the context. Also way to be a hypocrite; [[strike:you're not allowed to use Gold if you're not the Gamemaster.]] So demoted and your decision repealed.**** [[color:red:Telling someone that they cannot use the Golden Truth equates to saying that they don't understand the rules and Beato. Such statements should not be said lightly.]] Furthermore, due to the absence of an actual Game Master, [[hottip:* :[[color:red:I doubt Ryukishi would show up here, and if he did and made himself known, we'd all call bullshit, even me.]]]] I propose the Golden Truth should be used on this [=WMG=] page [[hottip:* :and the Untranslated page]] to describe events '''AS THEY ACTUALLY HAPPENED''' rather than how others remembered/presented them.***** [[color:red:What was originally presented is merely a theory, and not a statement of fact. Therefore there is no need to get so serious about it.]] Also, all of the above posters make valid points concerning the language barriers between English and Japanese, and the Gold Truth. [[color:blue:Now would be a good time for some tea.]]****** (4th respondent here.) I don't do tea, sorry. Got any Mountain Dew? (OK, now I really think we need a chat room for [=WMG=] discussion.)

[[WMG: The Repentance Enforcement Agencies of the Great Court of Heaven cover every genre of fiction, not just mystery.]]We know there are atleast eight disticts exist, and that two of them investigate heresy involving mystery fiction (the 7th using Knox's rules and the 8th using Dine's). And of course in real life there are people who will claim something isn't a real or fair mystery (and is thus heresy) if it violates whichever rules they support. Such people exist for all genre of fiction and thus it seems plausible that the Great Court of Heaven would have districts for every genre of fiction.* Not gonna call Knox's 8th here, but I would like some evidence in case someone does.

[[WMG: [[color:blue: A living Kinzo could have existed outside of Natsuhi's bed during the fifth game.]]]][[color:blue: The theory "Red truths made during the fifth game can be lies." is correct. Furthermore, Battler's "Kinzo" is a title theory is correct.]][[color:red: According to Erika her investigation showed that a living Kinzo couldn't exist outside the mansion, but she did not say which mansion.]] Therefore, [[color:blue: Kinzo could have existed in Kuwadorian which was not searched.]] Alternativly, [[color:blue: the courtyard counts as being inside the mansion]] and [[color:red: no indication is given that Erika searched the courtyard]]. Thus, [[color:blue: Kinzo could have existed in the courtyard.]]* [[color:green:The discussion that was previously here was moved to the discussion page, as it had little to do with this topic, but does have useful arguments when it comes to Umineko in general.]]

[[WMG: All the hints towards Shkannon theory being true are just epic trolling.]]Note, I'm not really against Shkannon myself, but this would be so Ryukishi07 - made us believe in something just [[ItAmusedMe for teh lulz]], and then present a completely different solution.* That might be interesting. And what sort of alternatives do you propose? ([=EP6=] also presses Shkannontrice pretty fucking hard.)** I think the fact that it was pressed so fucking hard was maybe the point of that troper. Think about it, the cheese scene: it's very unlikely it was pointless. Most people had figured out the actual answer behind the typical "4 slices" one (this troper, not knowing that riddle, thought he had figured out the real answer as well), but Battler and Erika figured out there was another answer beyond the not so obvious one. Just when you think "Shkanontrice is the truth", you will be surprised when someone tells you there was a real truth beyond that. Or so I think.* Kanzo. Kanon solved the epitaph or in some other way inherited the title Kinzo (this idea was proposed in ep 4.) Battler specifically made a point to exclude Kinzo from the "everyone else" statement of who was in the cousin's room, so Kanon could have been anywhere and saved Battler from the guest room. He then escaped either by being Shkanon (he cast off "Kanon" as shown in the fantasy scene and became "Shannon") or by dying after being shot by Shannon (as shown in the fantasy scene.)** That only explains the riddle in [=EP6=] though. How do you account for ALL OF the Shkannon hints?*** Well, this is WMG, I guess. Here's my random guess. Episode 6 basically confirms that Shannon is Beatrice. Shannon actually became a servant on the island when she was insanely young, like 4 I think, and depending on how old Rosa is/was, this fits with being immediately after the imprisoned human Beatrice died. So it seems plausible that Kinzo brought in Shannon to be the new Beatrice. Why? Because "The island must always have a Beatrice." Don't ask me why. Taking this further, if we're assuming Kanzo, "the island must always have a Kinzo." The title is inherited, so there's always a Kinzo. If these two things are true, then it explains all of the hints about the "incomplete soul" or whatever. Shannon can be with Battler and be "beatrice", Shannon can be with George and be Shannon/Sayo (she'd leave the island, violating the idea that "the island must have a beatrice."). The only problem with this is the fact that both of those have to fail if Kanon stays with Jessica. Why couldn't Shannon be with Battler (as Beatrice) and Kanon be with Jessica? The most obvious explanation is Shkannon. Another explanation, and this is a similar mechanism to the one in Higurashi, but perhaps the confirmed explosion only goes off when Shannon fails to be Beatrice (whatever that involves) and Kanon fails to be Kinzo (whatever that involves.) You'll note that one of them (shannon or kanon) always dies before the end of episodes that reach to the end of day 2, when the bomb goes off. So unless Beatrice is the one of the three groups that succeeds, the bomb will go off. Honestly, this is all pretty weak and not terribly supported, and Shkannon is supported very well, but it would be cool.* Minor note, Shannon came to Rokkenjima when she was apparently six. Also, you had me until "If these two things are true, then it explains all of the hints about the "incomplete soul" or whatever." The following doesn't make any sense to me. I like the "There must always be a Beatrice and Kinzo" thing though, but the rest is just waaay too strenuously forced.

[[WMG: Battler was not playing a game of chess with Beatrice.]]It's either a game of Mastermind or Battleship.* Or possibly a messed up Clue game.

[[WMG: The End...]]...is gonna be a rickroll.

[[WMG: EverybodyDidIt]][[color:blue: There was no one killer, no mastermind behind every event. It was a series of accidents, opportunities, and grudges that turned worse. In the end, the destroyer of the Ushiromiya family was in fact, the Ushiromiya family.]]* It seems ridiculous, but it is REALLY possible. It would explain why, after finding the truth, Battler didn't have a grudge against Beato. Because rules-Beato is not really "the killer", there is not "one killer".** Or, to account for accurateness, Everyone did it except Battler, Maria, and whoever Beatrice is.*** Of course, the three of them may have caused other people to do it, whether on purpose or by accident.

[[WMG: Erika used magic while trying to prove that Maria's candy magic wasn't magic.]][[color:blue:The statement,]] [[color:red:Your so-called candy magic is nothing more than a sleight of hand!! Just a sleight of hand that the fake witch calling herself Beatrice or whatever claimed was magic!!]],[[color:blue:refers only to how the candy got inside the cup. It does not explain where the candy came from in the first place.]] We are told that when Erika arrived on Rokkenjima all she had was her swimsuit and her life jacket. Therefore,[[color:blue:she couldn't have had any candy with her when she arrived.]] Furthermore, [[color:red:Knox's 8th. It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented.]], no indication is ever given that she had found or been given candy at any point. Therefore, [[color:blue:she must have created the candy using magic.]]* She obviously got the candy from the same place the cousins were.** [[color:red:Knox's 6th. It is forbidden for accident or intuition to be employed as a detective technique.]]*** Cool rule, bro. Good thing I didn't break it huh?**** Unless there is evidence that candy existed in the place the cousins were in, yes you did.***** Since the trick was performed RIGHT THERE by the cousins, all she has to do is either grab a piece of candy from whatever candy bowl is in the room, or reuse the candy while Maria's eyes are closed. Duh.****** Maria and Erika are the only one's who performed the trick. [[color:blue:The candies Maria produced are purely conceptual and do not actually exist. After all if they did exist she would have countered Erika by saying something like]], "You may have put candy under the cup while my eyes were closed. However, [[color:red: when I performed the candy-magic I did not use such a trick."]][[color:blue:Not to mention the fact Maria envied Erika's abillity to perform candy-magic.]] Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest that Erika had access to actual candy.******* I'm pretty sure George or someone slipped the candy under while Maria wasn't looking, which is why it worked. But if you're just going to rely on "purely conceptual candy" then this whole argument becomes meaningless as it's just a metaphor. No trick actually took place on either party's side.******** I interpeted Maria's performence of the trick as being akin to Beato showing Battler a magical murder and asking him to explain how it could have been done without magic. The difference being that rather then simply arguing about it Erika decided to show how candy-magic could be done without magic. I really can't see how the scence would make sense if Maria actually performed the trick, or if Erika didn't perform the trick. If Maria actually performs the trick she has no reason to envy Erika, and if Erika doesn't actually perform the trick Maria has no reason to envy her.

[[WMG: Umineko is one big story created by the Higurashi gang]]Certain parts are created by certain characters; Maria related stuff are both Satoko (/Satoshi?) and Rena related and Battler parts are Keiichi related, for example. Kanon having a machete was put in by Rena. It would explain design similarities too, and why the story is so troll at times.

[[WMG: Beatrice is responsible for the [[AdaptationDecay Adaptation Decay]] in the anime.]]Because she decided to use a different tactic to both give Battler more hints ''and'' screw with his head some more: Show the murders in anime form. The constant [[{{Fanservice}} Fanservice shots]] were there to snap up Battler's attention (given that he is something of a pervert), and the contorted facial expressions served to troll him even harder. However, when it came to depicting the scenes developing her and Battler's relationship, she got into "tsun" mode and didn't want ''too'' much hints about her real feelings for him given away, so she cut down on any scenes suggesting her feelings for him went beyond that of a "worthy opponent".

[[WMG: Bernkastel is jealous of Ange.]]Bern isn't nice to anyone, but she seems to have a particular grudge against Ange and takes every possible opportunity to torment her. Is Bernkastel jealous of Ange? This theory seems unlikely unless Ange's story leads to a happy ending, but why else would Bern focus so much on someone who doesn't even come to Rokkenjima?* Because she's easy to pick on, is more rewarding of a victim due to her emotional tirades and thus much less boring, and if Ange gets her way, the catbox will be broken and Bern won't be able to play with the Gameboard anymore. Quite literally, Ange's the one force who can really validate the destruction of the catbox, as Magic can only be acknowledged by an outside observer. Battler can prove the truth all he wants, but Ange accepting that truth will be what ends everything.

[[WMG: Umineko is Higurashi.]]We already know that different universes exist in the When They Cry series (as explained by Bernie), but I submit that Umineko is Higurashi in a different dimmension. That is to say that in another dimmension, Keiichi is Battler, George is Satoko, Jessica is Mion, Shannon is Rika, Maria is Rena, and Rosa is Shion. However, even though the 12 characters cannot exist in the same realm together (neither can the Hinamizawa Disaster or the Rokkenjima Incident), Rokkenjima and Hinamizawa can exist in the same universe, albeit with a different cast of characters.

[[WMG: The witches are TheFairFolk.]]Their incredibly warped sense of morality fits the bill enough, as does their desire for recognition, like Beatrice demanding the players kiss her feet and praise her name. The sacrifices are actually payments she makes to Hell in return for the use of the demons. It also explains her inability to lie, which is why she has to make up ways around whatever is stated in the red text.** But, Beatrice can lie and probably does so a lot. The only time she has to tell the truth is when compelled by someone using Blue Truth, and she's the one who introduced that in the the first place.*** Maybe she only can't lie in the meta-world? I don't recall her using Red Truth on any of the gameboards so far, but I could be wrong.**** Beatrice lies all the fucking time. She does so every time she says "I'm a witch" or something of the like. It's only the Red that can't lie. She hasn't used Red on the boards because that makes zero fucking sense.

[[WMG: Beatrice's body is made out of the spirits of Akujikishima.]]When she was killed, in 1967 she didn't have enough magic power to interact with the physical world in any way. She thus resorted to consuming the spirits of Akujikishima in order to build up magic power. This explains why she has the same weaknesses they do. However, the spirit mirror limited her abillity to consume them, which is why she wanted Shannon to break it.

[[WMG: Lambdadelta considers her role as the Witch of Certainty more important then beating Bernkastel.]]During the trial Battler tried to use the red truth, [[color:red:Ushiromiya Natsuhi is not the culprit!!!]], but Dlanor countered with Knox's 2nd. Lambda could have backed up Battler's claim and destroyed Erika's theory which may have led to Bern being defeated, but didn't because while Erika was wrong and Battler was right, Erika reached the conclusion that Natsuhi was the culprit though hard work, while Battler was simply told that Natsuhi wasn't the culprit.* Beating Bernkastel was never Lambda's goal; she wants to drag the game out as much as possible. That's why she's on no one's side.

[[WMG: Kinzo's mistress, Beatrice I...]]...was secretly a practitioner of the occult, herself. She sold her soul to Beatrice the Golden, and then ''claimed'' to be her human form because:* Her deal had been for the ten tons of gold, which she gave to Kinzo to manipulate his allegiance and secure a position as adviser of the Ushiromiya family.* Her deal had been to get her close to Kinzo, whom she loved. Afraid she would lose his favor to the witch proprietor, she used it as a ruse to keep him faithful.Because her ruse led to her being Kinzo's adviser and lover, both Kinzo's resulting empire and their child could be taken as Beatrice the Golden's interest. When Beatrice I died in childbirth:* It was a ritual initiated by either herself or Kinzo to give her a new body (Beatrice I may have been aware of the extents of the interest, and intended to keep herself alive to avoid paying).** The ritual worked, but Beatrice was reincarnated without her memories.** Kinzo flubbed the ritual, bringing Beatrice the Golden into the child's body but severely weakening her in the process.** The ritual failed, but Kinzo still believed Beatrice II had the soul of Beatrice I.But it was part of a XanatosGambit by Beatrice the Golden to obtain her full payment and a chance at revival.* When Beatrice II fell off the cliff and died, Beatrice the Golden claimed her form and used it to initiate the sacrifices.** Beatrice's "good" parts aren't just trolling - it's the soul of Beatrice I/II, who is either unaware of her predicament or simply not strong enough to fight back.* Kinzo tried bringing Beatrice back himself. However, due to his madness, poor grasp of magic, and believing Beatrice I/II and Beatrice the Golden to be the same, he flubbed the revival ritual.** He brought back Beatrice's body, but with the soul of Beatrice the Golden inside.** He brought back the vengeful soul of Beatrice I/II, who gave Beatrice the Golden use of her form to drag Kinzo and his family down with her.** He brought back the unwitting soul of Beatrice II, and she either believes herself to be Beatrice the Golden, or is being possessed by her.

*** Even if we assume magic is real, this is Jossed by Episode 3. [[spoiler: And even moreso by Episode 7]]

[[WMG: The "witches" are literally roleplayers]]Really, really bad ones who love to troll, god-mod, and are fighting over who gets to be the spotlight character of the RP. Battler is the poor schmuck who wandered innocently into the forum and ended up getting strung along by all of them; the colored-text battles are him trying to call the "witches" out on their terrible [=RPing=].* Or, they're all extremely GOOD [=RPers=], and it's Battler who sucks.** Would this RPG happen to be titled "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_mhtqEf4F8 Witches & Woodlands]]"?* Alternatively, the witches are all Sim-players. The constant use of a LockedRoomMystery makes perfect sense - [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential it's a favorite tactic]] of Sim-players everywhere. All the characters have ImpossiblyCoolClothes because the witches download modded content.** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xci4LXaYTh0&feature=related As seen here.]][[WMG: Bernkastel did the Final Destination movies.]]Admit it, this is exactly something she'd do.

[[WMG: Beatrice and the "magical" denizens of Umineko are all [[{{Persona3}} Sha]][[{{Persona4}} dows]].]]Beatrice in particular adores giving characters [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbal smackdowns about their flaws]], and their BerserkButton is humans denying that they exist. Kanon and Shannon have similar issues to Aigis and Teddie. There's also an awful lot of butterfly symbolism going down between both franchises.* Maria is a Persona User, and Sakutarou is her Persona. Same with Ange, who can summon the Stakes too, having the Wild Card. The Meta-World is the Velvet Room, and most of the witches and demons are obvious in what they represent. Beatrice, especially, is [[spoiler: Shannon's love for Battler forced out of her conscious mind and into another one.]] If that's not a Shadow, I don't know what is.* Philemon and Nyarlathotep even have a challenge similar to the games in the meta-world. And the entire fourth game was about [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome REACH OUT TO THE TRUTH]]. Who knows, maybe we'll start seeing some red text scattered around soon...* Bernkatsel is of course, [[HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi Rika's]] shadow. Or is that canon?** Not to mention that Izanami is voiced by Takano, who Lambdadelta is an {{Expy}} of. What's Izanami's special ability? [[OneHitKill To kill unfailingly!]]

[[WMG:[[color:blue:The use of the terms "humans" and "people" in the last two red truths of the sixth game is a red herring.]]]]Those red truths were made after six people had been killed. In the fourth game it was established that the red truth doesn't count dead people. Therefore, [[color:blue:at the start of the game there were 23 people on the island.]]* You're not accounting for the fact that those truths are timeless.** [[color:blue: Those truths are not timeless, they are reffering to the state the gameboard was in when they were made.]] It won't matter if you counter that since, [[color:blue:Battler and Beato weren't using the same number base as Erika.]]*** If we're going to concede that it's referring to the start of the gameboard, then the point about the six dead people and the conclusion of 23 is negated. Way to shoot yourself in the foot.**** I never said they were reffering to the start of the gameboard, they were made after the game was suspended due to the logic error, and thus are reffering to the state the gameboard was in at 2:34 am on the second day.***** Nevermind, you're not getting what the problem is.****** So far, I've made two arguments supporting my cliam that the difference (if any) between humans and people doesn't matter. Both of which rely on extra people being on the island, the various Love Duels (for example Chick!Beato and Lucifer's duel with Natsuhi) are sufficent evidence to satisfy Knox's 8th, as is Erika and Dlanor's conversation when the former discovered the lack of duct tape. Argument 1: [[color:blue:There were 23 people at the start of the sixth game. Erika was the 18th people (and that status doesn't change when the number of people changes). Erika murdered six people. Bringing the number of people down to 17. The red truths made at the end refer to the condition that the gameboard was in at 2:34 am on the second day.]] Nanjo's murder in the third game showed that the Red Truth is time sensitive. If you would claim that the last two Red Truths of the sixth game were not time sensitive you must present evidence to support that claim. Argument 2: [[color:blue:Both Red Truths are reffering to the start of the game. However, Beato and Battler were using base 13, in other words there were 20 (in base 10) people on the island. The statement 6*9=42 is sufficent to show that base 13 could have been used instead of base 10.]] I will now present a third argument which doesn't rely on any extra prople being on the island. Arguement 3: [[color:red:"I am Furudo Erika, the detective!!" Knox's 7th. It is forbidden for the detective to be the culprit! Someone who appeared to be Erika stated in red, that she killed Rosa, Maria, Eva, Kyrie, and Natsuhi. Knox's 10th, it is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues!]] Therefore, Erika killed those five people. [[color:red: An exception clause to Knox's 7th was mentioned in the fifth game. An exception to Knox's 7th exists in real life namely Knox's 7th only applies if the author claims that the detective is in fact the detective. The resoloution to the logic error was written by Beatrice, ]] [[color:blue: thus making her one of the authors of Dawn]][[color:red: and she acknowledged Erika as the detective using the white text.]] [[color:blue: This is sufficent to show that Erika couldn't have been acting under the exception clause. color:blue: This leads us to "Erika is the culprit." and "Erika cannot be the culprit." This contradiction can be resolved in two ways. One, they are reffering to two different people (i.e. Piece!Erika is the culprit, and Meta!Erika can't be culprit). Two, they are reffering to two different worlds (i.e. Erika is the culprit of the sixth game, and Erika cannot be the culprit of the fifth game. Thereofore the final two Red Truths of the sixth game refer to either different Erikas or more likely different worlds.]]* If there were six people unaccounted for, then a Logic Error was never even at risk. If Erika knew there were more people, her blues would have been ineffective. Moreover, [[color:red: There are no more than 18 people. This applies to all games.]] The two Reds needn't necessarily be time-sensitive. While Eva-Beatrice's riddle was, there were many that explicitly weren't. Erika's red simply references how her presence boosts the initial number count by one (She can't "introduce" herself at any point but at the beginning of the game, see?) And Battler and Beato expose a part of Beatrice's heart, a little bit of the truth that supercedes all games: Even if Erika is here, the count would only be 17.** Erika factored in the possibillity of other people when she set up the logic error. "[[color:red: I acknowledge that everyone else is in the cousins' room.]] That being said, if I understand you correctly you're saying "Erika is the 18th person" is the truth of ''Dawn'' and ''End''. While "There are only 17 people" is the truth of Rokkenjima-prime, right?*** Close enough, yea. It was stated that defeating Erika would reveal a part of Beatrice's heart, after all, and Beatrice is a personification of the mystery.

[[WMG: Hachijo Toya wasn't the only author of ''Banquet'' and ''Alliance''.]]She co-wrote them with someone else, but their partnership broke up for Reason X afterwards. This explains why the style of those two forgeries is so different from the style of her later forgeries.* Or she lied outright.

[[WMG: The meta-reality is total bullshit.]]

There isn't any reason to believe that it follows reality at all, or that Beatrice is ever telling the truth. In fact, the necessity of the creation of a specific universe with its own rules to "prove" that magic is real, instead of simply doing something else magical in the real world, speaks to this. Battler could just as easily avoid all this nonsense by destroying the meta-world by telling Beatrice to fuck off behind him, what what.* The Meta-World was [[color:red: created for the purpose of being with Battler]], not to convince him to accept magic.

[[WMG: Battler and Beatrice are just a couple of ''really'' drunk friends trying to recall something-or-other.]]Each retelling gets increasingly bizarre, with more 'magical' elements and characters added each time.* I demand fan art of this. Right now.

[[WMG: Okonogi spoke of world peace for a reason.]]It turns out that actually Kinzo's epitaph leads not just to the gold, controversial in itself, but also a secret cache of weaponry and multi-national secrets. The Ushiromiya family found them out, and if word got out, World War III would have broken out and caused the collapse of multiple governments of First World Nations all over the planet. Therefore, to keep this from happening, Shkannon, an orphan from Fukuin house (actually a secret plant for training shadow government assassin agents) was assigned with observing the Ushiromiyas and silencing them if things turned bad. Therefore, by killing the Ushiromiyas, the entire world was saved from nuclear fallout. It is for this reason that Beatrice martyred herself as a supernatural witch, as Shkannontrice felt sympathy for the family (especially Battler) and wanted them to die as heroes in service of mankind and it's future.

[[WMG:Erika is Maria]]As the 'Erika is Jessica' theory above, but:* We know that Maria is ferociously intelligent.* We know Maria has been through some fairly traumatic events which might cause her to act out against her former hippy-dippy witchy ways and replace them with a core of cold hard rationality.* They ''look'' the same age.* Erika's backstory, about the cheating boyfriend who she couldn't prove ''didn't'' love her, is a straight copy-paste of Maria's relationship with her mother.* The throwaway line in Episode 1 about how children Maria's age spend a lot of time 'trying on' new personalities.* Maria's 'witch battle' against Erika would suddenly be much more exciting.

It follows that...

* Maria is not Erika. Maria's trauma is what caused her to ferociously involve herself in witch games in the first place, and there's nothing to suggest her character would change in such a dramatic way. Really, Maria and Erika have just about nothing in common whatsoever.

[[WMG: Maria is the detective]]Battler and Maria are almost never separated, so Battler's testimony is 'locked in' to the Detective's objective observations for most of the story. Maria is conveniently absent when Battler meets Beatrice in the flesh in Episodes 2 and 4, and also when he inspects the bodies in the shed in Episode 1, all events that are surounded with mystery and innuendo for other reasons.

There's precedent: Murder mystery tradition dictates that that detective be the smartest and most eccentric person in the room, and the narrator be their not-quite-so-smart sidekick.

* [[color:red:Until Episode 5, Battler was the Detective.]] Then it was Erika, then Erika for a part of it and then no one.** [[color:blue: That Red Truth you paraphrased is refering to meta!Battler, not piece!Battler. Battler is indeed the detective in the metaworld. However, on the gameboard Maria is the detective.]]*** [[color:blue: It refers to both of them. Meta-Battler controls Piece-Battler, who, as long as Battler didn't give up, never experienced anything supernatural, always had a right to look at the bodies, was never killed until the end. He represented the human side on-board and off, just like Erika.]]**** [[color:blue: Dlanor wanted Battler to think that red was reffering to both Battlers, but it wasn't.]] Also, doesn't the right to examine bodies fall under "detective's authority" [[color:red:which is something that we were told Battler never had.]] Being the detective doesn't automaticly give someone "detective's authority" it simply prevents one from falsifying one's viewpoint.***** When were we told Battler never had the Detective Authority? Putting that aside, his viewpoint was unfalsifiable, meaning he had some sort of Authority. Just because he never actively used it doesn't mean he never had it. Battler has the right to do all sorts of things he never invoked, like the Blue Truth before Episode 4.****** Around the same time Erika revealed she didn't intend to make the detective's proclamation. Also, Battler didn't have the right to invoke the Blue Truth until Beato gave him the right to use it.

* In the sixth game, when Erika and Maria were arguing about Beato's candy magic, Erika asked Maria to confirm that she was telling the truth in red. Dlanor claimed refusal would be a violation of Knox's 7th. [[color:blue:Since Knox's 7th goverens the actions of the detective, only the detective can violate it. In other words, Maria was the detective of the sixth game.]]

[[WMG: The Mad Staker is...]]None of the parents could do it. None of the kids could do it. None of the servants could do it. A Nanjo-Shannon alliance could ''almost'' do it. Jessica could just about do it, if you assume she managed to fake her death in "Turn of the Golden Witch".

But aren't we overlooking someone? Someone very close to the heart of the case, someone who is verifiably alive at the time of each staking, someone with ample opportunity to do the deed, perhaps while the camera is away focusing on another character?

[[color:red:Battler isn't a killer.]] But he makes one hell of an accomplice.* Battler can't be an accomplice, he's the Detective. And there's no stakings so far in Chiru, so...

[[WMG: Stakers and Fakers]]An odd thing happened to Hideyoshi in Episode 5. In a closed room, he lay down on the bed and was run through by a demon stake.

So it's a fake: a pretend murder to pressure Natsuhi. But... there's something ''bizzare'' about it. Why would the 'fakers' stumble across the exact same method of murder as the killer from the previous four episodes? There's nothing in the epitaph to suggest goetic stake murder: only a vague suggestion that body parts be 'gouged'. What are the odds of the 'fakes' reinventing the 'real' stakings they know nothing about?

So.

Somewhere there is a cardbord box. The box contains stakes (some of them cunningly halved so as to harmlessly appear to pierce a body), stage blood, stencils (for the quick printing of magic circles) and other tricks of the pseudo-witch trade. The box was either assembled by the real deal and found by the fakers, or assembled by the fakers and found by the real one. The latter sounds slighty more plausible -- it also fits the series theme of fake things become real.* Why is it a fake? It can be solved the same way as the second twilight of Episode 1, or even how Natsuhi was supposed to be in the room herself - the killer was hidden somewhere in the room when Hideyoshi locked it, came out, killed him, then hid again. As in Episode 1, they didn't think to search the room, but this time if they had they would have found Natsuhi and assumed she was the killer instead!

[[WMG:1998 is a fantasy]]Ange's persecution at the hands of a vast and faceless conspiracy, her flight across the nation in the company of her idealised boyfriend-figure, all that monkeying about with bank vaults and codes and bottle letters, did not exactly so to speak entirely honestly really... happen.

Like the man from ''An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'', she escaped a fall that should have killed her, had many exciting adventures on the run, returned home, buried her demons and... suddenly broke out into a rash of fatal wounds. Turns out the whole adventure was a fantasy flashing before her eyes in the instant before she died.

I'd hate to pull the trigger on this 'nuclear option', but it sure would explain a bunch.

* Why does anything need to explain? The conspiracy is plausible, realistic, and in line with the Ushiromiya family's sordid financial business. Amakusa is hardly an idealised boyfriend-figure (especially since he probably killed her), the bank vaults and codes and bottle letters are real...and it's not all that odd for someone to survive a fall like that if they bounce off of soft canopies like that. Besides, the "everything was a dying dream" thing is cliche.** [[color:red: Dine's 19th. The motives for all crimes in detective stories should be personal. International plottings and war politics belong in a different category of fiction — in secret-service tales, for instance. But a murder story must be kept gemütlich, so to speak. It must reflect the reader's everyday experiences, and give him a certain outlet for his own repressed desires and emotions.]]*** Too bad Ange's 1998 is not a detective story, huh?**** [[color:blue:UminekoNoNakuKoroNi is a detective story.]] [[color:red:Ange's 1998 is part of UminekoNoNakuKoroNi.]] Therefore, Ange's 1998 is part of a detective story.***** Sure, it's part of Umineko, but the entirety of Umineko is not a Mystery story; it's a blend of genres. The Meta-World is not strictly Mystery, and there are multiple Fantasy scenes on the Gameboard. The thing is, by definition, 1998 doesn't qualify as Mystery because Ange's perspective isn't reliable as her journey breaks a lot of Knox and Dine rules, which, by the way, only need to apply to the Gameboard, because only the Gameboard needs to follow Mystery rules. Reality isn't bound by Narrative Causality.****** [[color:red:There are mysteries that don't follow Knox or Dine.]]

[[WMG: Bern and Erika never intended to trap Battler in a Logic Error.]]There real intention was to show that Battler didn't understand the truth of Beato's game. The Logic Error they set up had a flaw he could have used to escape. Namely, he could have claimed his piece left the room using magic. However, we know from the fifth game that Beato's games were solvable and that magic apparently doesn't count as a valid soloution. If Battler had used magic as the soloution the game would have continued until the end, but Lambda would judge that Battler had not reached the truth of Beato's game. Thus, either returning things to how they were at the start of the fifth game, or giving Erika a chance to be the Game Master.* [[color:blue: Magic cannot do things you cannot do without magic,]] so no, it would not be a valid solution. The thing is, there's really no such thing as an inescapable Logic Error, just like there's no unsolvable mystery. A Logic Error is proclaimed if the Game Master is unable to explain the trick, not when the trick is unexplainable.** Of course there's no such thing as an inescapable Logic Error, it's flat out stated that in order to escape the Game Master simply has to admit that the error exists.*** Which results in death. That's not exactly what I meant by "escape".**** It was only stated that the gameboard would be destroyed as a result. BATTLER's goal was not to create a coherent story, it was to show that he understood the truth of Beato's game. Admitting the logic error would have certanitly hurt his chances of doing this. However, as long as he didn't stop trying to prove he understood Beato's game he would not die. Actually, since Beato is the one who actually solved the Logic Error, it's likely that BATTLER had succeeded in proving he understood Beato's game before the Logic Error had even occurred. ***** And as the Gamemaster, he would suffer if the board was destroyed, just like Beato did earlier. Damaging the game damages it's owner; if it was so easy to just waltz out of a Logic Error, it wouldn't be so traumatizing to Bern and Lambda. Anyway, I would say that Battler actually PLANNED the Logic Error, and it was a bit Kinzo-style gambit to revive Beatrice by putting pressure on her. See my above theory about it.

[[WMG: The first twilight of the sixth game could not have been accomplished without magic.]][[color:red:[Erika] rekilled [Rosa, Maria, Kyrie, Natsuhi, and Eva].]] [[color:blue:Rekill means to kill someone or something that has already been killed. Killing means making a living thing into a dead thing. Dead things are not living things. A dead thing cannot be made into a living thing without magic.]]* [[color:red: Everyone...was certainly alive before I killed them.]] She took people who were "killed" by the competing lovers and "rekilled" them so they were actually dead. The Red Truth can allow for repeating fictions, since none of the Gameboards actually happened.** That red can be explained with, [[color:blue:Erika revived the victims using magic, and then rekilled them.]] If the first deaths were false in the context of the gameboard, Erika wouldn't be able to say she rekilled them in that context.*** [[color:blue: Magic cannot do something that cannot be done by human means.]] So Erika could not have revived them with magic. However, the characters were "playing dead." It's a fiction nested within another fiction, so there's absolutely no problem. I think your issue is that you're interpretting the Red too literally, and don't seem to realize how many layers are at work, here.**** [[color:red:Erika is human.]] Therefore, [[color:blue:even if she were to use magic to accomplish something that can only be accomplished with magic she still did it via human means.]]***** Well, actually Erika was the Witch of Truth during the span of Episode 6, admittedly.

[[WMG:UminekoNoNakuKoroNi is based off of a true story.]]Why else would the this is a work of fiction disclaimer be in white instead of red?* And the title of the story is really just "Na", and Higurashi never happened. We've been hardcore trolled.

[[WMG:Erika didn't fall off the boat, she jumped.]]Bitch is crazy; she could've done it just cause, or she was suicidal over her boyfriend's betrayal.

[[WMG: The Ushiromiya gold...]]... used to belong to the Knox family. Dlanor will solve the epitaph to reclaim it, then have the gold moved to a high-security [[StealthPun fort.]]

[[WMG:Sakutaro and EVA are related]][[MusicalSpoiler Their themes are a little too related for This Troper.]] We can only hope we are being trolled, or else that stuffed lion is a greater troll than Fermat.* Because music in Umineko have NEVER been remixed for use outside of thematic reasons. No sirree, not at all. Never.

[[WMG:The Siestas were made in Iceland]]Why else would they have the national flag on their arms?

[[WMG:Battler's sin is not finishing HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi]]12-year-old Battler is reading this book HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi (which he namedrops in Ep. 1). Let's pretend it's a choose-your-own adventure book with about a million ways to die and only one Good End. Battler takes this book with him to Rokkenjima to kill time, but gets frustrated with it, rage-quits, and accidentally leaves it lying around somewhere on the island. Because of the falling out with his father, he never returns to retrieve it, and he never contacts anyone on the island to send it back to him. Eventually, he forgets about finishing the series entirely.

Meanwhile, poor little Rika Furude has a bit of a problem on her hands: her master suddenly just... stopped playing/reading. She has no hope of reaching that one good end now - she'll just be killed in the same ways over and over.

Eventually, something very unlikely occurs and Rika manages to reach that single good end by herself and becomes Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles because of it. She's not happy though. Most pieces aren't after being abandoned by their master to be repeatedly killed for no rhyme or reason.

Bernkastel decides that she can only be satisfied with revenge. The next time Battler returns to Rokkenjima, she's going to make him experience the same hell she had to go through...

[[WMG: The reason Bernkastel is evil...]]Is because she saw Rika's horrible performance in the Higurashi English dub. So horrible was the attempt at Nii-pah that it caused her to hate all reality.Theories]][[/index]]

*** That's...quite incorrect. Before the murders begin, Battler often has plenty of opportunity to see how Jessica and Kanon feel about each other. That aside, it's against the rules of the gameboard for pieces like Jessica and Kanon to act in ways they wouldn't or couldn't. If they don't have feelings for each other, they cannot behave as if they do even in fantasy scenes. To say nothing of Ryukishi has said otherwise on his blog, calling the falsification of the romances a "cruel trap" he wouldn't indulge in. Unless you can account for Jessica loving Kanon while being 100% aware of his true nature, this theory doesn't work. Besides, we have no real evidence to think Gaap has a human vessel like other meta-characters do. EP7 implied that she represents not a person, but a phenomenon that was made into an imaginary friend.

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*** That's...quite incorrect. Before the murders begin, Battler often has plenty of opportunity to see how Jessica and Kanon feel about each other. That aside, it's against the rules of the gameboard for pieces like Jessica and Kanon to act in ways they wouldn't or couldn't. If they don't have feelings for each other, they cannot behave as if they do even in fantasy scenes. To say nothing of Ryukishi has said otherwise on his blog, calling the falsification of the romances a "cruel trap" he wouldn't indulge in. Unless you can account for Jessica loving Kanon while being 100% aware of his true nature, this theory doesn't work. Besides, we have no real evidence to think Gaap has a human vessel like other meta-characters do. EP7 [=EP7=] implied that she represents not a person, but a phenomenon that was made into an imaginary friend.

* It could be that this is somewhere else on this hefty WMG list, but I think this theory meshes rather well with the Shkanon theory. I like to think that if Jessica and Beatrice being the same is due to her being broken, it's entirely possible that Shannon knew this, and Kanon spawned out of pity for this situation. It would also explain why Shannon and Kanon take orders from Beatrice. She's someone he/she/they/whoever would know, and is also one of the Ushiromiya family. At the same time, it would explain those friendly visits Shannon has with Beatrice. Either we go the superstition route, or Shannon knows it's Jessica and they're already close anyways. Just throwing that one out with no idea how relevant/irrelevant it is. Pretty much just started trying to make any manner of theories after EP6 to cope with the wait for the next Episode and am running off pure recollection. So feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

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* It could be that this is somewhere else on this hefty WMG list, but I think this theory meshes rather well with the Shkanon theory. I like to think that if Jessica and Beatrice being the same is due to her being broken, it's entirely possible that Shannon knew this, and Kanon spawned out of pity for this situation. It would also explain why Shannon and Kanon take orders from Beatrice. She's someone he/she/they/whoever would know, and is also one of the Ushiromiya family. At the same time, it would explain those friendly visits Shannon has with Beatrice. Either we go the superstition route, or Shannon knows it's Jessica and they're already close anyways. Just throwing that one out with no idea how relevant/irrelevant it is. Pretty much just started trying to make any manner of theories after EP6 [=EP6=] to cope with the wait for the next Episode and am running off pure recollection. So feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

** It's not like anythign Rosa says can be taken seriously. This is a theory this troper has personally always believed, it would explain quite a bit about why she's so broken and her bipolar attitude towards her daughter. In most of the later arcs, Rosa seems to imply [[spoiler: that Maria wasn't wanted at all.]]. Rosa being raped would make perfect sense...why else [[spoiler: would she have a daughter if she spends a good bit of EP4 going on about how she never wanted a daughter?]]

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** It's not like anythign Rosa says can be taken seriously. This is a theory this troper has personally always believed, it would explain quite a bit about why she's so broken and her bipolar attitude towards her daughter. In most of the later arcs, Rosa seems to imply [[spoiler: that Maria wasn't wanted at all.]]. Rosa being raped would make perfect sense...why else [[spoiler: would she have a daughter if she spends a good bit of EP4 [=EP4=] going on about how she never wanted a daughter?]]

* '''Prophecy:'''Witches are created by the forces of Destiny to carry out the Epitaph. Stating anything that has not been determined in red text [[RetCon retcons]] it to [[ShrodingersGun something that is true for some intrepetation of all red text used so far]], and is itself a prophecy. Red text that would falsify all possible interpretations of the Epitaph or another red text cannot be spoken. Even if this isn't the case, it gives me a great idea for an RPG...

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* '''Prophecy:'''Witches are created by the forces of Destiny to carry out the Epitaph. Stating anything that has not been determined in red text [[RetCon retcons]] it to [[ShrodingersGun [[SchrodingersGun something that is true for some intrepetation of all red text used so far]], and is itself a prophecy. Red text that would falsify all possible interpretations of the Epitaph or another red text cannot be spoken. Even if this isn't the case, it gives me a great idea for an RPG...

** You all forgot that ther's some kind of Meta-Kanon and Meta-Shanon in EP2. And it's also suggested that they remember previous games. Go figure. This troper thinks they mirror themeself. And remember that Siestas didn't have a possible vessel when they first appeared, Gaap might be the same.

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** You all forgot that ther's some kind of Meta-Kanon and Meta-Shanon in EP2.[=EP2=]. And it's also suggested that they remember previous games. Go figure. This troper thinks they mirror themeself. And remember that Siestas didn't have a possible vessel when they first appeared, Gaap might be the same.

* But didn't he manage to say in red in EP4 that Ange was his sister? How did he do that, in that case?** But isn't she still his sister as long as they both are Rudolf's kids? Plus, we can go by the theory that she's his sister as long as he considers her one. Same goes for Asumu - he could say "Asumu is my mom" in red, because it's a different thing from "beeing born from her". There are actually things morer dagerous for my theory, like [[spoiler:Rudolf wanting to talk to Battler "about his birth" (?? this troper fails at moonspeak, so she may have got things wrong.) in EP5]]. Then again, the fact that Kyrie and Battler don't seem to know anything bugs this troper a lot.

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* But didn't he manage to say in red in EP4 [=EP4=] that Ange was his sister? How did he do that, in that case?** But isn't she still his sister as long as they both are Rudolf's kids? Plus, we can go by the theory that she's his sister as long as he considers her one. Same goes for Asumu - he could say "Asumu is my mom" in red, because it's a different thing from "beeing born from her". There are actually things morer dagerous for my theory, like [[spoiler:Rudolf wanting to talk to Battler "about his birth" (?? this troper fails at moonspeak, so she may have got things wrong.) in EP5]].[=EP5=]]]. Then again, the fact that Kyrie and Battler don't seem to know anything bugs this troper a lot.

* Technically speaking, Siestas are furniture of Mariage Sorceriee, so they already are on Battler's side, he just has to summon them. As for the theory itself, it's interesting, and possible, but it goes against the 07th Knox Rule, and it's overdone in general - just doesn't sound like Ryuukishi to me. Than again, nobody said that Goldsmith is the killer... If we are to view it from anti-fantasy side, all he did so far was just firing magic lazors and pretending he killed everybody with magic in EP4. Might as well be the same as Beato. But then again Battler being Goldsmith wouldn't change much in that case.

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* Technically speaking, Siestas are furniture of Mariage Sorceriee, so they already are on Battler's side, he just has to summon them. As for the theory itself, it's interesting, and possible, but it goes against the 07th Knox Rule, and it's overdone in general - just doesn't sound like Ryuukishi to me. Than again, nobody said that Goldsmith is the killer... If we are to view it from anti-fantasy side, all he did so far was just firing magic lazors and pretending he killed everybody with magic in EP4.[=EP4=]. Might as well be the same as Beato. But then again Battler being Goldsmith wouldn't change much in that case.

* Than, it would mean there is no culprit in EP5. Or rather, "culprit" in this theory only refers to the killer after the first twilight. But it's actually possible there is a separate culprit for the firts twilight, so it's not a problem.

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* Than, it would mean there is no culprit in EP5.[=EP5=]. Or rather, "culprit" in this theory only refers to the killer after the first twilight. But it's actually possible there is a separate culprit for the firts twilight, so it's not a problem.

** Didn't he slip into the sea of kakera again during EP5 TeaParty ?? And he seemed to do it on his own. Also, voyager witches obviously can bring others into the sea, so if Battler could drag himself there, he can as well take his crew with him. Plus, This Troper doesn't think they need to leave the kakera to begin with...

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** Didn't he slip into the sea of kakera again during EP5 [=EP5=] TeaParty ?? And he seemed to do it on his own. Also, voyager witches obviously can bring others into the sea, so if Battler could drag himself there, he can as well take his crew with him. Plus, This Troper doesn't think they need to leave the kakera to begin with...

* Well, if we take Battler out of the running, it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Going by the stakes' personalities and not by what they're supposed to represent, Gluttony fits Jessica for the most part. Plus, Gaap said in EP5 that she was Jessica's mother, or at least Natsuhi imagined it, explaining the drill hair.

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* Well, if we take Battler out of the running, it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Going by the stakes' personalities and not by what they're supposed to represent, Gluttony fits Jessica for the most part. Plus, Gaap said in EP5 [=EP5=] that she was Jessica's mother, or at least Natsuhi imagined it, explaining the drill hair.

* [[color:red:In the CodeGeass universe, Japan was not occupied until the Twenty-first century.]] Also, in EP1 there is reference to the KoreanWar. [[color:red: If The Royal family of the Britannian Empire fled to America, The KoreanWar sure as hell wouldn't have occured, as the attack on Pearl Harbor never happened.]] (The Japanese would have had no reason to attack Pearl Harbor, as Britannia would've already been involved in WorldWarII if there was one at all, there would have been no reason to try and prevent America (which doesn't exist here.) from entering the war!) [[color:red: No Pearl Harbor, No [=MacArthur=]. No [=MacArthur=], no KoreanWar. No KoreanWar, no war funds. No war funds, no fortune. No fortune, NO PLOT!]]

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* [[color:red:In the CodeGeass universe, Japan was not occupied until the Twenty-first century.]] Also, in EP1 [=EP1=] there is reference to the KoreanWar. [[color:red: If The Royal family of the Britannian Empire fled to America, The KoreanWar sure as hell wouldn't have occured, as the attack on Pearl Harbor never happened.]] (The Japanese would have had no reason to attack Pearl Harbor, as Britannia would've already been involved in WorldWarII if there was one at all, there would have been no reason to try and prevent America (which doesn't exist here.) from entering the war!) [[color:red: No Pearl Harbor, No [=MacArthur=]. No [=MacArthur=], no KoreanWar. No KoreanWar, no war funds. No war funds, no fortune. No fortune, NO PLOT!]]

****** Evidence supports he does see everything we see in EP3. After the magical Beato vs. Virgilia fight he becomes distraught again because he doesn't know how to counter it, which is when Virgilia steps in and provides him (and us) with the Schrodinger's Box perspective. He has to ask for specifics on certain incidents because it's all still being seen exactly how we see it...tinted by Beato's magic-colored glasses.

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****** Evidence supports he does see everything we see in EP3.[=EP3=]. After the magical Beato vs. Virgilia fight he becomes distraught again because he doesn't know how to counter it, which is when Virgilia steps in and provides him (and us) with the Schrodinger's Box perspective. He has to ask for specifics on certain incidents because it's all still being seen exactly how we see it...tinted by Beato's magic-colored glasses.

* But what if the supposed "Attraction" is just a mother loving her son? Beato would be about Eva's age in 1986, assuming Rosa just mistook her for dead, similar to most of the corpses in EP5. Maybe she survived, had Battler, and Kinzo just handed him out to whoever would take him as their "Grandson". Natsuhi didn't want him, Kinzo just sent him off to Asumu, and she just happened to want Battler because she had a miscarriage. The reason Beato didn't want to say that in red was because she didn't want to hurt Battler any more.** Beatrice seems to have a sexual attraction to him, it doesn't really look like mother's love, does it? Just remember the balcony scene from EP4 - sorry, but the things she says don't sound very motherly.

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* But what if the supposed "Attraction" is just a mother loving her son? Beato would be about Eva's age in 1986, assuming Rosa just mistook her for dead, similar to most of the corpses in EP5.[=EP5=]. Maybe she survived, had Battler, and Kinzo just handed him out to whoever would take him as their "Grandson". Natsuhi didn't want him, Kinzo just sent him off to Asumu, and she just happened to want Battler because she had a miscarriage. The reason Beato didn't want to say that in red was because she didn't want to hurt Battler any more.** Beatrice seems to have a sexual attraction to him, it doesn't really look like mother's love, does it? Just remember the balcony scene from EP4 [=EP4=] - sorry, but the things she says don't sound very motherly.

* If you want to look at it from another angle, Red Text is really screwy and relies on ExactWords and FromACertainPointOfView. In EP5, [[spoiler:Dlanor starts spouting Knox commandments like crazy to counter some of Battler's arguments, but she never says 'This is a mystery that obeys the Knox commandments.' in red. Unless Battler can get that confirmation, Erika can keep using Mystery to make up whatever truth seems most convinient. ]] This is VERY heavily implied in the part of the Anti-Fantasy vs. Anti-Mystery TIPS where it seems as if Beatrice is mocking the reader for thinking that she's "playing fair". Taken further, the murders are being made to look like a genuine Mystery and a Fantasy by the real culprit. Only the dual blades of red Anti-Mystery and blue Anti-Fantasy can destroy the sick game on Rokkenjima and free Battler.

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* If you want to look at it from another angle, Red Text is really screwy and relies on ExactWords and FromACertainPointOfView. In EP5, [=EP5=], [[spoiler:Dlanor starts spouting Knox commandments like crazy to counter some of Battler's arguments, but she never says 'This is a mystery that obeys the Knox commandments.' in red. Unless Battler can get that confirmation, Erika can keep using Mystery to make up whatever truth seems most convinient. ]] This is VERY heavily implied in the part of the Anti-Fantasy vs. Anti-Mystery TIPS where it seems as if Beatrice is mocking the reader for thinking that she's "playing fair". Taken further, the murders are being made to look like a genuine Mystery and a Fantasy by the real culprit. Only the dual blades of red Anti-Mystery and blue Anti-Fantasy can destroy the sick game on Rokkenjima and free Battler.

In EP5 Battler states in red, that there are always two side of one truth. While in Ange's point of view Kasumi was killed with magic despite circumstances, which should make this even for a witch impossible in a human's point of view she and her men was snipped by Amakusa, whose TIPs even state that he was trained as counter sniper! Too bad, he failed to save Ange from getting shot.

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In EP5 [=EP5=] Battler states in red, that there are always two side of one truth. While in Ange's point of view Kasumi was killed with magic despite circumstances, which should make this even for a witch impossible in a human's point of view she and her men was snipped by Amakusa, whose TIPs even state that he was trained as counter sniper! Too bad, he failed to save Ange from getting shot.

** Actually, in the first arc, Genji and Kanon also say the extension phone line (the one that can call the other phones on the island) is broken as well. This is why Genji goes directly to Natsuhi first thing in the morning rather than calling, which due to Genji's personality he would most certainly also do. However it&